Visions of Ice and Fire
by rushosmj
Summary: When the team gets a call from Spirit World about a new mission involving a human psychic with powers to see the past and future, her presence will test and possibly break bonds. How will the team fair with this new challenge? Can they survive it intact? Just who is this person to Kurama and Hiei? And just what does this have to do with ice skating? HieixOC and a bit of KuramaxOC
1. Chapter 1

**Hello! I'm back again with a new story. I hope you enjoy it, I am working to develop my personal writing style and one of the ways I do it is to publish Fanfiction! I am also currently experiencing writer's block with my personal, original project (better to write something than to not write at all!). Anyways, the OC in this story is actually a character from my own project that I am working to develop as she is causing me some problems (grrr...), so any critique of her would be appreciated (constructive feedback only, please!). **

**I am also working on another Harry Potter story that I may begin to post in early February but if you would like it sooner, please review this story and I will see what I can do. **

**Without further ago, please enjoy Visions of Ice and Fire! And as always, please send me reviews, I do read them all and do my best to respond to them all within a few days! Yu Yu Hakusho isn't mine, I wish!**

* * *

**Visions of Ice and Fire**

Chapter 1

Kurama took a quick look around the first floor of his house and determined that it was indeed ready for company. He allowed himself a quick smile for his fastidiousness before he went to the kitchen to grab the snacks. He was just setting down the tray when his doorbell rang.

Frowning slightly, he went to answer it thinking that she was a bit early but was fully startled when the door jumped open before he could grasp the handle. Instead of his expected company, he was nearly bowled over by five other people that he knew quite well.

"Hey, Kurama! How's it going'?" Yusuke Urameshi said loudly as he clapped Kurama solidly on the shoulder. Behind the green-clad teen came the ever-present Kazuma Kuwabara along with Botan, Keiko Yukimura, and Hiei who brought up the rear.

"Oh hello, did we have a meeting today?" Kurama asked, dazed. He hadn't been expecting his friends from the human, Spirit, and Demon worlds at all.

"We didn't but-wow Kurama! How did you know we were coming? You set out snacks and everything!" Kuwabara gasped and began to help himself to the assortment of treats that were laid out. "And I thought I was the only one with psychic intuition!"

"Um, well, not exactly-" Kurama began before Botan cut him off.

"We have an urgent message from Koenma and your house was the closest for everyone to meet." She paused from her explanation to pull out the silver briefcase that they used to contact the Prince of the Spirit world and gestured for all of them to gather in order to see the screen. "This way we can get the message and formulate our next move once we have all the information."

She switched on the machine and Kurama resignedly moved into position to see the screen, praying as he did so that it wouldn't be a long visit. He checked his watch and saw that he had about fifteen minutes to get the information and get his friends out of his house before he was put in quite the awkward situation. But before he could fret too long, the Prince's voice roused him from his thoughts.

"Greetings," Koenma said. "I'm glad you all were able to contact me on such short notice." He was in his teenage form, the JR mark clearly emblazoned on his forehead, his words less muffled by the pacifier in his mouth than when in his usual toddler form. He leaned closer to the camera, seeming to gather his thoughts. "I have word that a Seer is near to awakening."

Beside him Botan audibly gasped, but otherwise there were no other movements or reactions that would indicate that anyone else knew what Koenma's words meant. Kurama himself wasn't entirely sure, even Yoko, his demon side didn't seem to know what Koenma was referring to.

"A what now?" Yusuke said with his head cocked to one side. Kuwabara made a grunting sound that indicated he was in agreement with his fellow human's question. Keiko who sat quietly in between the two humans remained silent, her bright brown eyes fixed at the screen with intent. Kurama spared a quick glance at Hiei and saw that his friend was looking also looking intently at the screen as well, but gave no indication that he was aware of where the conversation might be heading.

"Yusuke, didn't you read that material I gave you months ago? It clearly has a section all about a situation like this!" Botan scolded but Yusuke only rolled his eyes.

Keiko sighed in exasperation and resignation at her boyfriend's usual slacker tendencies.

Kurama signed but figured he should intervene if only to move the visit along. "Koenma, it appears that besides Botan we are all at a loss as to what this situation means and how it involves us. Perhaps you could enlighten us?"

Koenma met Kurama's eyes and shot him a frustrated look before obliging in the request. "A Seer is a human-yes, always a human-who is both extremely rare and has powerful psychic abilities. Usually appearing every few centuries, this person possesses the power to see into the future, past and the present-whenever, and wherever they wish to see really. The power isn't entirely understood, the Seers are typically quite closed-mouthed about the entire thing. And as I said, one is about to awaken."

"Okay, okay, hold up diaper ass. How do we even know that this...Seer...is about to awaken?"

"The last Seer told us." Koenma deadpanned. "It's been hidden in my memo book and I got the alert earlier this morning."

The five listeners exchanged glances as they took just a moment to let that sink it. Various expressions ranging from dubiousness to irritation flashed around the room.

"Umm...Koenma, just who was the last Seer? And if they're so important how is it that you only remembered this morning?" Kurama asked, truly afraid of the answer.

"Joan of Arc." Koenma said, no hint of humor or irony present on his face. "And I can't be expected to keep track of every little thing! Do you know how much paperwork I have to do every day?"

Everyone ignored the last question, pondering the historical significance of that suggestion. Well, except Kuwabara who just looked a if he didn't know who Joan of Arc had been.

"Alright then, you covered what a Seer is, but what the hell does this have to do with us?" Yusuke asked with his typical bravado.

Kurama noted that Hiei was the only one who hadn't spoken or made some sort of comment through-out this exchange. Being a telepath, Kurama would be interested in having a discussion about a Seer with the other demon. Kurama could imagine that the two abilities together would be quite formidable in battle.

Koenma signed. "Like I said the Seer is due to awaken soon, we don't know how soon, could be today, could be in several weeks-the notes I have from Joan really aren't that specific-but once they do awaken the amount of psychic energy they will emit will become very tempting to demons. A Seer as I said is able to see all points in time at will. I'm sure you can imagine the kind of value a person with those abilities would fetch to the wrong party. I'm sure you can imagine the damage that could be caused to all three worlds if this person were to fall into the wrong hands. Which leads me to where you all come in. Spirit world has tasked you with finding this human and keeping him-or her-from harm's way-by any means possible. If you aren't successful, this could lead to the destruction of our reality as we know it. After all, it's almost happened before."

The end of the Spirit Prince's explanation was met with loud exclamations from Kuwabara, Yusuke and Botan while Kurama, Keiko and Hiei remained quiet. Kurama let the words roll around in his head when a certain word caught his attention.

"Koenma, when you said the Seer will awaken, what do you mean?" Kurama asked loudly to be heard over the racket of his comrades.

"Ah, yes that is an important point. You see, until the Seer awakens, or comes into their full powers, they appear just as another human would. They won't know who they are or what powers they have. They will be invisible to demons and to Spirit World until their powers are triggered."

"And just how is it Spirit World has no idea who this Seer is though they happen to know that they exist?" Hiei spoke for the first time since entering the house, his red eyes gleaming in the light of the screen. "Clearly the previous Seer didn't think this through when she gave you that information, Prince." His tone held the usual bite but Kurama could sense an underlying air of intrigue-quite unusual for the fire demon.

"Well, the last Seer as I said was the one who told Spirit world when this Seer would appear, but she refused to divulge any other information other than the "when" and of course the "where", though both pieces of information were vague. I believe her reasoning was that if the Seer was revealed before they awakened, they would be killed." Koenma said shaking his head slightly. "But who knows with prophecies and predictions, I don't have any more information than that. We know that the Seer is set to awaken around this time and in this city, but I really don't have any other tips to give you at this point. But I am moving this task to the top of your lists and it is to be treated as a top priority. Duty calls as always, give me a ring when you find them!"

And they all watched as the screen went totally blank, no-one in the room saying anything for a long moment.

"Well, this is just about the suckiest assignment we've had. No other instructions other than to find some random person before the bad guys do without any other clues to go on. What else is new?" Yusuke said moodily, crossing his arms over his chest with a huff.

"Urameshi is correct." Hiei said. "This is one of the worst thought-out assignments we could have been given. Looking for a random human with supposed unprecedented psychic potential. And then after locating them having to protect them from getting killed. How dull."

Kurama agreed with both statements, totally unsure of where to even start. Koenma hadn't even given them any clues such as male or female, old or young. They truly were looking for a needle in a haystack, only the needle would soon begin to glow like a beacon and attract every demon for miles around the city if they didn't find them first. It was shaping up not to be the relaxing afternoon he had hoped.

Just as those thoughts crossed his mind his doorbell rang and he immediately stiffened. It had certainly been fifteen minutes since his team had arrived and the discussion had driven all thoughts of his impending visitor completely out of his head.

"Oh, were you expecting someone else Kurama?" Botan asked with an odd mixture of curiosity and jealousy, though no-one else seemed to pick up on her tone.

"Um, yes, actually. It would probably be best if we finished this discussion at another time, I really should get going, and if you all wouldn't mind doing the same-"

But before he could finish his sentence he heard the unmistakable sound of his front door opening.

"Suichi? You here? Sorry to barge in but it started raining and I didn't want to get wet." A female voice said.

Kurama winced and avoided Botan's stare. He had known that the female reaper had feelings for him for several months now and her being here couldn't have come at a worse time.

"Ohh...Kurama, hiding a girl from us? You sly fox." Yusuke's and Kuwabara's faces split into identical grins.

"Yusuke, please call me Suichi, I'm human here." He hissed as he heard the footsteps of the girl down the hallway.

"Suichi, are you down here? Did I interrupt anything? There are a lot of shoes in the entryway." Her voice echoed down the hall and he sighed with resignation, rising from his seat on the couch to greet his oldest human friend.

"Yes Hana, I'm in the living room. And some friends from my job stopped by to say hello."

He heard her feet come down the hallway before she emerged. Hana Saito had long dark brown hair that she always wore down except for the top layer that she tied up with a simple black ribbon. Her eyes, a distinct shade of purple crinkled at him in greeting as she smiled. She was wearing their school uniform and he saw that she had her backpack slung around one shoulder meaning she had just come from the library.

"I didn't realize you had company. I hope I'm not coming at a bad time." She said sweetly and Kurama's stomach clenched in a not-unpleasant way. Her eyes took in the scene of the five other people sitting in his living room with some confusion, clearly not expecting them to be there.

"Oh no-" Kurama started to say but his answer was cut off by his associates.

"Oh course not sweety." Kuwabara's voice said, "Any pretty face is welcome here."

Kurama watched as Hana's eyebrows shot up at the obvious line before she smiled awkwardly and moved to lay down her backpack.

"Um, thanks...I guess." She said, clearly uncomfortable.

Kurama chuckled a bit under his breath. Hana was indeed quite beautiful, but as the second highest scoring student in their high school (second only to Kurama of course), she had never really focused on attention from the opposite sex, and really between classes and her own form of training, she barely had time to see Kurama anymore. Tonight was the first time he had seen her outside of classes in several weeks and he was eager to spend some un-complicated time with his only human friend.

"So, how do you know Ku...I mean Suichi." Botan herself cut in, moving from her spot on the couch to stand up next to Hana. Boton was quite tall and seemed even more so since Hana was on the shorter side, only just above five feet and quite petite.

Kurama winced at the slip but hoped Hana hadn't noticed.

"Oh...well, we've been neighbors ever since Kindergarten and we've gone to school together ever since. We have been in the same class since first grade. I guess you could say we're best friends." Hana shot him a look, clearly still uncomfortable by the forceful questions from a complete stranger.

"Yes, Hana and I are best _friends_" he emphasized, hoping that Botan would get the point and back off. He moved closer to Hana and took her bag from where she had dropped it on the carpet and moved it to a hook on the wall beside his own.

"Oh...friends. I see." She said, surprised and backing down a little, though Kurama could still sense the jealousy there.

"Yes, and Hana and I have some studying to do-big test tomorrow. Unless there's anything else you all needed?" He said this in such a way that implied that there better _not_ be anything else they needed.

"Wait, you said her name was Hana, right Suichi?" Keiko's voice broke into the conversation as she scrutinized the other brunette. "You wouldn't happen to be Hana Saito, would you?" Keiko's brown eyes sparkled with triumph as she saw that she was correct. "Oh you are, aren't you?!" She stepped over the Hana and bowed quite formally. "I just love watching your routines online! That last performance you gave was amazing!"

"Oh, thank you so much for saying so. I'm so sorry but Suichi didn't say your name?" Hana said, truly gracious that Keiko had given her such a heart-felt compliment and clearly relieved to be able to take her focus off of Botan who still hadn't moved away from her.

"I'm so sorry how rude of me! I'm Keiko Yukimura and this is my boyfriend, Yusuke Urameshi, and our good friends Kazuma Kuwabara, Botan...and Hiei Jaganshi." Keiko stumbled a bit over the lack of last name for Botan, but continued, "We've known Suichi for a few years now and see him a lot outside of school."

"It's so nice to meet you all and I'm so sorry that there hasn't been a chance to meet you sooner, I don't really get a lot of time to see Suichi with all the training." Hana smiled warmly and seemed to relax. Kurama knew she struggled with being the center of attention in social situations and was glad to see that she could begin to relax in such intense and unexpected company.

"Training? What do you train for? And how do you know who she is Keiko?" Yusuke questioned, immediately showing more interest in the woman before him.

"Yusuke, this is Hana Saito, she's Japan's current top figure skating champion! I watch her videos and routines online all the time! She's training to represent Japan in the Olympics this winter!" Keiko answered with genuine excitement.

"Oh! Yukina's heard of her, I think we watched some of your routines together. Great stuff by the way." Kuwabara grinned at the small brunet. "Though I can't begin to understand the scoring system you guys use." He shook his head in bewilderment.

"Oh thank you all for your support, I really appreciate it!" Hana blushed with pleasure and embarrassment. "And the scoring is a bit difficult to grasp at times, but once you get it it's quite simple!"

"But you said that you don't get a lot of time to see Suichi, right? Because of the training? We should leave you both then, so sorry to impose!" Keiko said and began to shoo everyone towards the door.

"Oh come on Suichi! Keiko! Can't we all stay a little longer? I want to talk to Hana some more." Kuwabara grinned at him and Kurama sighed inwardly.

"No, let's go. We've obviously overstayed our welcome." Hiei's quiet voice cut through the cacophony of sound from their more boisterous teammates. Kurama locked eyes with his fellow demon and nodded slightly in thanks.

Hiei gave no indication he noticed and led the rest of the group to the door. Botan once more tried to make some excuse to stay, but was overruled by Keiko for which Kurama inwardly thanked her.

Once they were gone, Kurama signed out loud in relief, he could truly feel a headache coming on. He walked back down the hallway from the front door to the living room to find Hana perched on the couch, leveling him with an amused look.

"Your work friends, hmmm?" She grinned at him.

Kurama knew he had some explaining to do.

* * *

Hiei walked alone later that night after the group had gone their separate ways, his thoughts for some reason, quite hazy. He couldn't shake the feeling that something had occurred earlier that he had missed. Something important. He had separated from the rest of the group shortly after leaving the fox's human dwelling with an unsettled feeling deep in his chest.

He walked rather than ran through the streets of the city, keeping to the shadows so as not to draw attention from the human crowds. His thoughts strayed back to the report from the Spirit Prince, but also back to the human girl as well. There was something about her that he couldn't place, but for a moment, just a moment, when he had spoken up her eyes had flickered over to his and they had locked gazes.

That moment, possibly even lasting less than a second in time, had been one of the most peculiar of his life. He had felt at once connected and disconnected; seen and unseen. And as soon as she had looked away, the feeling left him. But something else had left him as well, something he couldn't place. Something that he felt had been there, but suddenly wasn't anymore.

Hiei clenched his fists in annoyance.

He decided that he would see that girl again and find out just what had occurred. And then he would be rid of this thing he didn't understand.

* * *

Hana gave Suichi a hard time-but not too hard. She had missed him after all and knew that with all the time she had to spend training that his life had changed. She couldn't fault him for that, nor could she get mad at him for making new friends and seeing them more than her.

Ever since his mother had gotten sick about three years ago, and then had miraculously recovered, Suichi had seemed different. She wasn't sure what had changed, but she knew that their friendship wasn't quite the same. They were close, yes, but they each kept secrets from the other which they had never done before.

She sighed. Maybe it was just a sad fact about getting older, old friendships inevitably drifting apart. But whatever the case, she had enjoyed herself after she was done teasing the red-head and they ate their snacks and watched the rented movie she had brought over.

It was nice, it was normal. It was hard to pretend to be normal these days.

All of these thoughts were swirling around her head, she had found it harder and harder to force herself to focus. She was also struck by sudden-intense-headaches. So painful and sharp that they almost caused her to blackout and fall while skating. Most inconvenient when one was balancing on metal blades while turning quickly on the ice. Luckily they hadn't caused her to fall yet, but Hana was worried it was only a matter of time.

"Hana! Snap out of it!" Her trainer's sharp voice was like a crack of lightning during a clear sky.

"Yes! Sorry Sensei!" She took a deep breath and concentrated on the music of her routine. She glided towards the center of the ice and took her ready stance, centering herself for another grueling training session.

* * *

It had been four weeks since he had seen the girl, Hana. During that time Hiei sorted through his options while at the same time searching for this Seer that had Spirit world so up in arms.

They went out in shifts, scouring the city for any sign of awakening psychic powers, any sign of the Seer from the prophecy. But to no avail.

No-one had felt or seen anything that would lead to discovering the Seer and Hiei had to admit that he was getting frustrated. So frustrated in fact that he decided to take a momentary break from the assignment and follow through with his final decision to go and see the girl.

That annoying ache in his chest hadn't changed, but it hadn't gotten any worse. But it was annoying enough that he decided he needed to look into the issue and would do so alone.

Hiei had decided that he wouldn't tell the fox that he was going to see the human girl again. He decided that it simply wasn't Kurama's business and that was enough for Hiei. He followed her from school to a building in the city not far away. He had never really paid attention before to one of so many human buildings and so was surprised that it housed two large sheets of perfectly flat ice. He inspected one sheet through the windows from outside and watched humans skate around it-some did it more atrociously than others-before he realized that this was yet another human past-time for 'fun'.

He rolled his eyes. And began to look for the girl.

He didn't find her anywhere on the first sheet, but discovered that she was certainly out on the second. She was in fact the only person skating on it. As he watched her Hiei had to admit that she wasn't atrocious at all. In fact, he found her movements graceful and full of expression. For some reason as he continued to watch her he again felt that strange feeling in his chest, except this time instead of something missing, he felt that he was again being filled.

But by what he couldn't name.

He got comfortable on the roof and continued to watch her entire practice.

Finally, after about five hours and long after dark the girl appeared to finish. He waited for her to exit the building and followed her. He could tell by her movements that she was fatigued. Which was no wonder since her routine was clearly an exertion even by normal human standards. If Hiei was paying attention to his own thoughts he would have realized that he found her work ethic impressive.

But he only had eyes for the girl and the feeling of fullness within him.

Which was lucky because he was the only one who noticed it when she suddenly and inexplicably fell her to her knees and then her hands slapped to her ears with a sharp cry of pain.

He moved without thinking. He landed beside her checking for injuries or any reason for the sudden collapse. Surely she hadn't trained that hard. He hadn't seen any sign of stumbling or falling before this moment.

"Hey, what happened?" He asked the girl after he could find no other explanation for her actions.

"Hurts." She breathed. Her hands had begun to dig into the skin around her ears, her eyes screwed shut in pain.

Instantly Hiei could feel powerful psychic energy beginning to vibrate the air around them. He reached to his side and unsheathed his sword, eyes searching for the attacker. Finding none and no other source for the energy, his crimson eyes rested again to the girl. He saw that the pain must have increased as tears tracked their way silently down her face. Instinctively Hiei reached out a hand and clapped it to her forehead. He opened his third eye which was still shielded behind his bandana and braced himself.

And was nearly blown away.

He sucked in a deep breath and dove into her mind, feeling the energies of her psychic powers tug and pull against his intrusion.

In that moment he knew two things: the first was that this was without a doubt the Seer that Koenma had told them about, and the person he had spent the last several weeks searching for. The second was that her awakening psychic powers were so strong that they were in danger of ripping apart her mind.

He dove deeper, for some reason he decided that he needed to stop that from happening. He fought through wave after wave of energy each revealing visions and scenes that he couldn't begin to place. He assumed them to be part of the power of prophecy so didn't dwell on them too long. He didn't need them distracting him from his goal.

Finally after what seemed an eternity the waves of power began to calm as he made his way to the source of the energy. He saw the figure of Hana within her mind, hunched over herself much like she had been outside of it. Her face scrunched up against the onslaught of power, totally unaware of what was happening.

"Hey! Hey!" Hiei called trying to get her attention, trying to her her to focus on anything other than the pain.

Her face twitched and she slowly opened one eye and turned to look at him. "Who...who're you?" She said with palpable effort.

"Hiei, and you need to do exactly what I say or we won't be able to make this stop."

She was looking at him now with both eyes open, he could see the fear and pain etched into that gaze. And he could see the very second that she decided to throw in her cards and trust him. It was powerful and something that made him deeply uncomfortable-something he would bury deep, deep down until he could examine it at his leisure.

"Okay...just please, make it stop. It hurts." She said through shallow gasps.

Hiei nodded and crouched down directly in front of her. He took both of her hands in his own and gently lowered them away from her ears. "You need to relax into the power." He said as steadily as he could, though he understood how impossible that order would sound. "You have to trust it and go with it, you cannot allow it to be your master."

"How...how can I? It's-it's too much!"

"Trust me! It's the only way that you survive. You can't fight yourself." He squeezed her hands with both of his to emphasize his words, willing her to believe him lest they both die in this psychic storm.

She locked her gaze in his, her deep purple eyes were like shining amethyst stones. Slowly, so slowly that it was almost imperceptible at first, Hana began to relax. Hiei could see the strain that this was putting on her, to finally welcome this power instead of resisting it. He could understand through her struggle that it was due to her constant resistance that it had gotten so bad. And it was most likely the reason that no-one had been able to find her. She had successfully locked her power within herself until it became so strong-and with no outlet that she couldn't contain it.

Hiei wouldn't have been surprised if she had been showing signs of her powers for months, if not for her determination not to let them out.

"Yes, yes, that's it. You're almost there." He coaxed, his voice strangely soothing even to his own ears.

Finally, after many minutes, Hana fully relaxed and the last of the psychic storm died away. She had done it-quite an impressive feat of mental ability for an untrained human to subdue this much inner power.

"You're...you're Suichi's friend, right?" Hana was sitting now instead of crouching into herself. "I met you about a month ago at his house?"

Hiei nodded.

"Where are we? And what are you doing here?" She asked, looking around for the first time.

"We're in you mind, and I came to help you." He realized that he was still holding her hands and slowly dropped them and backed away from her.

"What do you mean, in my mind?" She asked very softly but as she said it her eyelids began to droop, a tell-tale sign of psychic fatigue.

"Sleep now, I'll be there when you wake up." The girl didn't respond and Hiei had just enough time to swiftly exit her mind without causing further damage to catch her real body before she hit the pavement of the street for a second time.

He gathered her up in his arms securely and began to run as fast as he could back to Kurama's house. He was lucky in many ways that he had been there. If she had collapsed on her own there was no telling what demon-or human-would have come along and discovered her. Or if her mind would have still been intact when she had.

Breathing deeply himself after the mental exercise, he put all thoughts of what might have happened out of his mind and continued onward. Ignoring the fullness of his chest as he went.

* * *

Kurama was just finishing up his last homework assignment when he felt the massive pulse of psychic energy. He stiffened immediately trying to pin-point its source. He was able to tell that it was about two miles away, but couldn't determine much more than that before it suddenly halted. Just then, his cell phone began to ring and he checked it seeing Yusuke's number flash on the screen.

"Hey Kurama, did you feel that?" Came his groggy voice suggesting that he had been sleeping.

"Yes, I'm guessing it's coming from the Seer. Who's out patrolling tonight?"

"Botan. And Kuwabara, I just tried to call him though but he didn't answer. I'm guessing he's moving toward the source as fast as he can. Damn that was a powerful blast though. Woke me out of a sound sleep" He yawned for emphasis.

"I see, well then I guess I'll wait here until I hear anything-".

Kurama halted in mid-sentence and turned in his chair to see a very strange sight.

Hiei was on his roof, tapping at his window with the hilt of his sword while the other arm was wrapped firmly around another person that he couldn't quite see.

"Yusuke, on second thought you had better come over and if you hear from either Botan or Kuwabara tell them to do the same."

"Why? What-" and Kurama heard no more as he abruptly hung up his cell and hurried over to the window and opened it.

"Hiei, what on earth-? Hana?" He was totally speechless and then extremely concerned.

"It seems your friend here is the Seer we've been looking for." Hiei jumped through the window carefully before depositing her even more carefully onto the bed. "I happened to be in the neighborhood when her powers broke through the mental barrier she had constructed. Luckily we were able to subdue them and I got her out of the area before any other demons could trace the presence of the energy."

That statement was perhaps more words that Kurama had heard Hiei speak in some time without stopping. He quickly analyzed the new information before asking, "I'm assuming she is unhurt, is she unconscious due to the mental fatigue associated with gaining her powers?"

Hiei nodded. "And with subduing them. It was quite...unexpected to see."

Kurama took a moment to look at his demon friend. Since placing Hana on the bed, Hiei had stayed close by, not moving an inch away when he could have easily done so. His gaze was fixed on Kurama's childhood friend with unwavering intensity, and he could hear not just the flatness of Hiei's tone that Kurama usually associated with a relaxed state, but also an odd sense of peace within his words.

How incredibly odd. But before he could do more than comment on it, he heard his front door open and the unmistakable sounds of Yusuke climbing up the stairs to his bedroom.

"Hey Kurama, what the hell? Hanging up on me? Uncool man!"

Kurama took a moment to thank the gods that his mother chose this evening to go out to the movies with her friends lest she should be privy to this ridiculous situation.

"Come in Yusuke." Kurama said with exasperation and distinctly heard Hiei chuckle at his expense.

"I don't think you've ever hung up on me, lousy fox. What…?" Yusuke stopped his grumbling as soon as he opened the door and saw the scene before him. "Uhhh...what's going on?"

"It seems that Hiei has found our Seer." Kurama said.

Yusuke moved closer to the bed and Kurama raised an eyebrow when he saw that Hiei moved slightly to position himself between Hana and the Spirit Detective.

"Kurama, is that your friend the ice princess?"

"That is my friend Hana, yes." Kurama kept the eyebrow raised, knowing that Hana would hate that name as soon as she heard it.

"Okay, someone has to please explain to me what's going on."

So Kurama took pity on Yusuke and filled him in. In hindsight he should have just waited because he had to do so once more when Botan and Kuwabara showed up, and by the time he realized he would need to do so a third time once they reported to Koenma he was mentally spent.

Luckily he was spared from the third iteration quite so soon because Hana began to wake up.

* * *

Hana was having a very strange dream. She was skating, something that she typically enjoyed, but not this way. Instead of speaking a message to the audience while she danced on the ice, she was simply skating as fast as she could. An intense wave of fear came washing over her, no matter how fast she went she couldn't escape it. She could feel the burning of her muscles as they screamed in protest. But she never seemed to get any closer to safety.

She was sweating, shaking with fear. Her muscles tense not just from the strain of the activity but also from the intensity of her emotions. But, as suddenly as she found herself in the nightmare, she began to wake up. As she regained consciousness, she realized that the fear was receding with it. She noticed a presence just before she opened her eyes. It was unfamiliar yet she knew it was no stranger. And it was soothing in a way that she hadn't experienced before.

"Are you awake?" A voice said, the voice must have belonged to that soothing presence because she felt immediately better.

"Yes, what happened?" She opened her eyes and was immediately drawn to a strong crimson gaze.

'Hiei' her mind supplied. And she saw the corner of his mouth quirk up the slightest bit before another voice caught her attention.

"Hana! I'm so glad you're awake." Suichi's voice and bright green eyes showed acute concern.

"How are you feeling?" Hana turned slightly to see the blue-haired woman whom she had met the same time as Hiei along with the other red-haired man and another black-haired man. 'Botan, Kuwabara and Yusuke' a voice said in the back of her mind.

"A bit like I've been hit by a truck." She said honestly and swung both her legs over the side of the bed and attempted to get up. Suddenly Hiei was there, steadying her with firm hands and helping her rise. Once she was up she took a good look at the faces that surrounded her, before addressing her next question to Hiei. "You...saved me?" She tapped her head. "Inside of my mind." He nodded slightly, his intense eyes never leaving hers. It made her stomach flip-flop and she noticed for the first time that she found she quite liked the shape of his nose and the odd color of his eyes.

_A stab of pain followed the thought which was then followed by the oddest scene she had ever...seen? Observed? She wasn't sure how she could see it but she could in her mind's eye. Clearly it was Hiei but along with his two red eyes was a third, purple eye that seemed to glow. She could see the same nose and face as the ones in Suichi's bedroom but could see that the striking features were coated with blood. He was standing in a clearing with another figure she couldn't make out, his stance was defensive, a long katana was drawn. _

The vision-scene?-ended as abruptly as it came and Hana suddenly had the intense urge to vomit. She was breathing heavily, her head between her knees, only vaguely aware that Hiei's hands had come to rest on her back in what she imagined _may_ have been meant to be soothing but only managed to feel as odd as the rest of her day had been.

"What the hell was that?" She wondered aloud.

"If you're right, then we need to get her to Koenma." The woman called Botan's voice rang out against her receding pain. "I'll take her."

"She won't be going alone." Hiei's voice came again and the rest of the vision and pain disappeared. Hana looked up.

"Why Hiei, have you taken a liking to her? And here I thought you were content to be forever single and alone." Botan said with a teasing tone that for some reason deeply annoyed Hana. Was this really the time to be making fun of someone?

"What I am or am not is no-one's business, reaper, least of all your's." Hiei's voice turned cold and hostile.

"I'm not going anywhere before someone tells me what is going on." Hana forced out through dry lips. "Suichi. Who are these people? What is happening to me?"

Suichi's green eyes met hers and she say the unvoiced apology there. "To start things off, and to make them less confusing, please just call me Kurama."

* * *

**What do you think so far? I have several other chapters written and will do my best to post every one to two weeks. See you soon!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello and welcome back to chapter 2! Please enjoy reading and as always please comment and let me know your thoughts. I don't own Yu Yu Hakusho, only my original characters. **

**Thanks for visiting!**

Chapter 2

Hiei paced restlessly outside the doors of Koenma's office. The Spirit World Prince had asked, after much initial explanation, to be able to speak to Hana alone. The girl had been strangely calm during the entire discussion, quite the opposite of how Hiei expected human girls to react to such strange circumstances. She had taken the news of being a Seer surprisingly well along with the knowledge of the existence of demons and spirits. She had looked slightly tense when Kurama and himself were both presented as examples of the former. But overall she hadn't dissolved into tears nor had she screamed or carried on in any other visible way. For some reason that had given Hiei reason to feel proud...of the human.

Or maybe the word was surprised. He still wasn't sure sometimes with feelings.

Hana had looked to Hiei when the request came for a private discussion. Purple eyes had searched red and seemed to find an answer because she had turned back and murmured her assent.

He hadn't liked it. He hadn't liked it as soon as she said yes, and liked it even less when the doors had closed behind her. So he was pacing-and waiting. And he could sense that damn fox's eyes on him.

Yusuke, Kuwabara and Botan were on the other side of the hallway, discussing some innate human thing called 'Ice Skating' which Hiei inferred was what he had seen Hana doing at that ice building earlier. Hiei had been listening slightly, but wasn't interested overall, it just kept his mind off of his irritation. But the distance of their companions gave Kurama ample time to begin the line of questioning Hiei knew that the fox had been suppressing ever since the fire demon had brought Hana to Kurama's house.

"Hiei. We need to talk. Immediately." The fire demon tensed at the tone of voice present within Kuram's words. It made the hair on the back of his neck stand up, a similar feeling to when he was in a fight and about to dodge a slash to his rear. Kurama continued, "You have staked a claim on her."

Hiei froze completely to stare at the fox. "What're you talking about?"

"Don't play dumb. It's quite beneath you. You've already enacted the bond, I just want to know why." Kurama paused, waiting for Hiei's answer.

Hiei continued to state at the fox, waiting for some trick to his line of questioning.

Kurama for his part continued to search Hiei's face after his blunt command, then his eyes widened, shock painting his bright features. "Unless...no. You didn't know...did you...did you know that you even did it?" The shock and surprise was evident in his tone.

"Did what?" Hiei ground out, his temper rising.

Green eyes narrowed and at once Hiei could feel the fox's energy swirling. "Did you know that you chose her?" He growled. "Did you know that you placed a claiming bond on her?" His voice was lowered so deep into his chest that it was more a physical vibration than sound. "Did you know...did you not stop and think that she was _mine_ to choose?"

Hiei had been about to step back when that one word caused his hackles to raise. Mine. Hana was _mine_ he thought to himself. The word felt right in his head and suddenly several things clicked into place. The moment he had first locked eyes with her in Kurama's living room weeks ago, the sudden loss in his chest that had only gone away when he had seen her again. His irritation at being separated from her-at seeing others move to touch her. He had chosen Hana as a potential bonded partner, something not so rare in the demon realm as a whole, but very rare between a human and a demon. Something that would be almost unheard of. Something that was precious and sacred. Something Hiei had never intended to make.

Hiei looked back at Kurama and could see the rage and anguish in the fox's eyes. Turning at odd intervals from green to gold and back again, a sure sign of Yoko begging to be let out. Kurama had wanted Hana for a mate. He had wanted to bond with her. That was the reason for keeping her away from the demon world, or any of his teammates. It was instinctual, something a mate would do to protect their partner. And Kurama had been doing that for years.

And Hiei had obviously royally fucked up all of Kurama's plans.

Hiei looked the fox in the eyes allowing his mental shields to drop so that Kurama could see the truth to his words. "It...wasn't my intention. I don't know how it happened. Ever since I looked into her eyes that first day...I've felt something missing, something that was returned when I saw her a few hours ago. It wasn't my intention to form a bond. I honestly don't even know how I was able to do it without knowing...it wasn't my intention." He whispered the words, struggling with himself as he discovered their own truth. It was as close as he could bear to get to an apology.

Kurama looked furious for a moment, murderous...and then seemed to deflate. He knew as well as any demon that it was a complete taboo to interfere with a claim on a bond until the bond was either rejected of fulfilled. To interfere with a bond in progress was one of the only truly taboo things in the demon realm, in fact. In the case that both parties would agree they would be bound together much like a human marriage, not only emotionally, but also physically.

"What's up your butt, Kurama?" Kuwabara had wandered over undoubtedly sensing the rising tensions, Hiei could admit that the human's timing was about the only sharp thing he had.

"Nothing." Kurama bit out, but his powers were once again subdued and Hiei could tell that though his friend was deeply wounded by the action, he didn't blame Hiei. After all, he could only blame himself really, for taking so long to place his own bond.

Much like anything else in Demon World, it was kill or be killed, survival of the fittest and with regards to choosing a partner it was often survival of the swiftest.

Before Kuwabara could try to push the fox any further, the doors to Koenma's office opened and Hana stepped out with the teenage-version of the Prince.

Hiei's breath caught slightly and his tension eased at the sight of Hana, unharmed. He scowled slightly, this was something he definitely wasn't used to. And he still wasn't even sure if it was what he wanted. But that too was a thought he would have to examine later.

"Well, I know I didn't say this before-but good job everyone. You located our Seer-Hana." Koenma said. "Now comes step two! As I am sure you know, psychic power has to be harnessed and it has to be trained. That's why I am placing Hana in the care of Genkai for the time-being. She will live with her at her temple and once she has gained full control of her powers, she will join us here to work with the Spirit Detective force."

Hiei frowned at the ease in which Koenma had made those decisions, seemingly without much council from anyone else much less from Hana. But before he could say anything a voice stopped him in his tracks.

"That, I won't agree to." Hana's voice stated quite matter-of-fact.

"But...but…" Koenma said. "But we just talked-"

"I know that this was all a part of your grand plan, but this is my life." Her voice was steady but Hiei's eyes could see her fists clenched at her sides and the tension in her frame. It made him want to go to her, see if he could help in any way. But he didn't, frozen as he was by her protest. He had to see what she would say next. "I am an Olympic-class athlete and I won't give up the _years_ and blood and sweat of training and miss my chance just because I can suddenly 'see the future'" She made quotation marks with her fingers, "-a supposed gift I never asked for and certainly don't want. I will represent Japan in the next few months as I have promised myself I would since I was _five_. And nothing-_nothing_-will get in the way of that. So I don't care what arrangements you have to make, but I am staying in my city to complete my training." She took a deep breath before continuing. "And after I finish my competition...then you can complete your training." She looked the Prince of the Spirit world dead in the eye and Hiei had to stifle a full grin as he saw Koenma's reality crumbling down around him with nothing he could do about it.

"Well, looks like the Ice Princess has spoken." Yusuke's voice rang out, laughter breaking out under each syllable like sun after rain. "What's plan 'B', Koenma? She refuses to stay with Grandma until after the Olympics which...are in about four months. And I don't believe that you can make a human-even a powerful psychic-obey the request of Spirit world without a good reason. So the way I see it, if you don't want your Seer falling into the wrong hands, we need to accomodate what she wants." He smirked with obvious pleasure at something not going according to plan. Hiei raised an eyebrow at the strength of Yusuke's deduction.

"I appreciate the help, Yusuke...but don't call me Ice Princess. Ever." Hana said with some humor in her tone.

Hiei relaxed even more once he saw that she was alright. Then, he made his move. "She won't need Genkai right away. I will teach her how to control her abilities-the basics-until she needs to move to someone with more...human expertise."

Everyone stared at him-with the exception of Kurama who he believed was looking away from the whole scene.

"_You_ will?" Botan's skepticism seemed to speak for most in the room.

He ignored the reaper and continued. "I was the one who found her and I helped her subdue her power initially into something she could control." He shrugged feigning nonchalance, though inside he was smirking with pleasure. This was the perfect opportunity for him to figure out just what was happening with the whole 'bond' situation away from prying eyes. "Might as well finish the job. Besides," he paused to sweep his gaze over towards Hana who was looking at him intently, "it might be better for her mind to have a teacher who is already familiar with the extent and feel of her power."

Koenma was thinking through the situation, trying and failing not to panic and blow the whole operation and thus his access to Hana. "Yes, yes that's fine. Hiei will teach her until after these...Olympic Games things. Kurama, Yusuke and Kuwabara will take turns guarding her from possible abduction from demons. You four," he pointed at the other males in the room, "have a new mission. Is that clear?" He then turned to Hana, "And the _moment_ this thing is over you come back here to continue the plan A! Is that clear?"

Hana cocked her head at the Prince and seemed to think it over. She took her sweet time before leveling him with another look and sticking out her hand which Koenma took. "It's a deal." 'For now'. Though the last two words were silent, Hiei caught them and for a fraction of a second actually grinned.

They were all seriously fucked if this human woman really came into her full power with that attitude. Finally something he could enjoy.

* * *

"Kurama, you will tell no-one of this...bond. Especially Hana." Hiei had said before they had left Spirit world to begin their newest mission. The fox demon had tensed his shoulders and full-on glared at Hiei. "Let me finish." Hiei breathed before continuing. "She's been through so many changes already. I will tell her when the time is right...but first I need to let her adjust to everything else before I get into this," he gestured vaguely at himself, "too. I don't know what's going to happen but if there's a chance that it could work out…" he shrugged "I'd like to just see, alright? Let me do this in my own way, in my own time."

Kurama hadn't said anything for awhile, but finally nodded though his teeth were clenched tightly. Hiei started to walk when he felt Kurama grab onto his arm roughly-most out of character for him. "If you do this...you do this right, do you understand me? If you don't then all teamwork or previous friendship aside-I will kill you."

Hiei blinked rapidly as his mind replayed the conversation from the previous day. He had never seen Kurama so intense about anything before. But he thought he could understand why. Though it had been totally unconscious on his part, the choice to make the psychic bons, when the thought of Hana being someone else's partner filtered through his mind, it made his vision flash red with intensity and anger. He really needed to figure out what was going on inside of his head.

"Sooo...from one kind of practice to another, huh?"

Hiei had been so absorbed in his thoughts he hadn't heard Hana approach. She was done with skating practice for the day, Hiei could smell the fresh soap and water on her skin indicating a recent shower. She had located him sitting on a low wall outside of the ice rink (the term supplied by Yusuke when Hiei had asked what the building was called), where they had agreed to meet after each day to practice psychic control exercises for one hour before she would go home to bed.

Hiei nodded and pushed himself from the wall. "There's a place we can go that's close-by, and on the way back to your house." '

Hana nodded and followed his lead, quiet.

As they walked, Hiei kept stealing glances at her, while also avoiding the strange desire to move closer to her. He had found several things already about her that he liked. He admitted from the first day that he found her to be attractive-and for a human quite strong. He had noticed well-defined, though small, muscles as he had watched her practice. He noticed that her movements were quite graceful, like a dancer's and that the movements that she made during her skating took excellent precision and control of motor functions and balance.

Otherwise he liked her long hair and striking purple eyes. He liked that she was calm, and mentally strong. She may have been the first human that he didn't automatically dislike on sight which was quite an achievement for his sensibilities.

"We're here." He intoned as they reached their destination. It was a secluded park that he had taken the liberty of warding against both psychic energy getting out, and demons getting in unless given specific permission.

Hana blinked at the clearing and said, "Is it safe to practice here? You remember what happened last time. You said I could get both of us killed if I'm not careful." She seemed unsure, nearly afraid which caused Hiei's senses to heighten to a protective edge.

He turned to her and gently grasped her arm, carefully guiding her into the warded area. He felt the energy as they passed through, causing him to shiver slightly. He felt Hana shiver too and was pleased that she had been able to sense the change. It was a good place to start.

"You will be safe in here. Nothing can go out and nothing can get in unless I say it can. Therefore, others will be safe as well. You burned off a large amount of energy that you had stored during the initial psychic storm yesterday. You won't be able to get results like that again unless you either store it up-or you learn to control it enough to unleash it all at once. Any practice we do today and over the next few weeks won't be anything like yesterday."

Hana let out a held breath of air all at once in obvious relief, and looked down towards Hiei's hand which still grasped her arm. She looked back up into his eyes posing a question to him though it was silent. _Why is he being so kind to a complete stranger? _

It took Hiei no time at all to answer her. "Because I want to be. I find I get the best results by doing what I want."

Her purple eyes widened in surprise. "Did you just…?"

Hiei nodded. Might as well start there. "I'm a telepath. It's one of many psychic abilities that can manifest in both humans...and demons."

"And you're a demon."

Again he nodded. "I'm a fire demon and I was born in Demon Word, also known as the Makai. But through certain...events I've come around to helping out the Spirit Detective, Yusuke with certain...tasks."

"I'm one of those tasks." She said, oddly resigned. "You wouldn't be here unless it wasn't a job you were told to do. Makes sense. I hope I'm not too much of a bother." She shot him a false smile at her own expense.

"No." He found himself saying, needing to have her understand without freaking her out. "I volunteered for his assignment because I wished to. You are no bother to me."

Hana just stared at him, unsure what to do next before saying, "Well, what's the first lesson, Sensei?"

* * *

Kurama found himself out of sorts over the next two weeks. He did his best to suppress the odd surges of blind anger and deep sadness. He played over and over again the events of the last month. He had planned to place a psychic bond on Hana himself that very night that Koenma had told them about the existence of a Seer. But the whole plan had been ruined.

He had to try to explain to her instead-in as much detail as he was able-why his teammates had been at his house, giving as many excuses as he could without outright lying. But it was no good, she could always tell when he was keeping something from her and his inability to tell her the truth had backfired and he could see the hurt in her face.

They had grown apart over the past years since he joined Yusuke's team. Especially during the Dark Tournament and the months of training leading up to it. And then the incident with the whole barrier between the human and demon worlds weakening had happened. There had barely been any time for him to see his own mother much less Hana. He hadn't wanted anyone to see her with him-to associate with him, during that period for her own safety. It had all been to protect her so that when it all calmed down, he would be able to stake his claim on her and they could move on with their lives.

But he had been too slow, all his preparations were for nothing. And to think, Hiei had connected the bond with a _look. Without even knowing he had done so. _Kurama resisted the urge to break something. But he forced himself to relax. He still held out a small sliver of hope that their bond would fail, but he also found his more rational side rejecting even that hope. He cared deeply for Hana, he wanted to see her happy more than anything. He knew that Hiei deserved that too. He knew he couldn't do anything to disrupt the bond unless it was broken. He knew he would be truly cruel if he wished for it to fail.

But damn, did it have to hurt so much?

"Alright, Kurama. Talk." Yusuke was the one currently on duty during the night with Kurama. They were stationed outside of Hana's house, waiting for her to come back from her nightly practice with Hiei.

"About what, Yusuke." He signed, resigned, wanting to be anywhere else than about to have the conversation he knew the Detective would bring up.

"About all this," he waved a hand vaguely to imply Kurama's entire being. "All this feelings shit. You know I'm not too good with those so out with it."

"I think you'll have to be more specific, Yusuke. I don't know what you're referring to."

Yusuke rolled his eyes. Kurama must be worse than he thought for Yusuke to pick up on his foul moods. "You're pissed about something. Which, for you, isn't something that happens every day. It's only gotten worse in the past week and you aren't talking to anyone about it. In fact, I'm pretty sure that Hiei is the only other one of us who knows. I only picked up on it yesterday when you snapped at me. Kuwabara has no idea as usual that anything is wrong."

Kurama couldn't help but twitch at the sound of Hiei's name, but Yusuke continued on not noticing.

"So, sense you're not talking about it, I figured I'd do us all a favor and drag it out of you before it gets any worse. So, do me a favor and just spit it out."

Kurama pressed his lips together with annoyance. He really didn't want to talk about this. But he knew Yusuke and the man wouldn't give up until Kurama gave him something. So Kurama settled on half the truth.

"I suppose I'm just...disappointed." He said carefully. "In myself. I had the Seer under my nose for an entire month and Hiei was the one who found her. I've known her for years, in fact, and I never noticed anything." Disappointed was perhaps the understatement of the century, but he didn't feel like listing a stronger emotion and possibly inciting more curiosity.

Yusuke was studying his face carefully. "So what you're saying is you're pissed at yourself for not finding her and by the fact that Hiei ended up doing it?" He sounded unconvinced.

"Yes...I'm disappointed that Hiei found her." _And bonded to her before I could_. He added silently at the end of the sentence.

"Huh. Well, don't be too hard on yourself Kurama!" Yusuke slapped him on the shoulder in a jovial way. "We can't all be perfect all the time! I'm honestly just glad we found your friend before other demons could make ribbons out of her!"

Kurama inwardly sighed, glad that Yusuke had bought his excuse. But he was also in agreement with his last statement. They were incredibly lucky that no-one else had managed to find Hana. It had only been two weeks but Hiei had given some information relating to the true psychic nature of her powers. In short: they were immense and extremely difficult for her to control.

Koenma's initial assessment was that the Seer would be like some massive library-like guide to the past, present and future. Information able to be checked out at will at any time or for any person. In reality, it was much, _much_, more complex than that. It required energy training that was more time-consuming than simply checking out the right book and expecting the information to be there.

But further discussion and thought on the topic was postponed by the arrival of said Seer and her current demon teacher. Kurama and Yusuke jumped down to greet the duo, Kurama willing his mood to stay as neutral as possible.

"Hiei, Hana, how'd it go tonight?" Yusuke asked as Hana unlocked her door and the four made their way into her house. Luckily Hana's father worked nights so he wasn't around much while her mother lived in another city and had since her parents divorced five years ago.

Hana smiled slightly and shrugged. "I honestly don't know, but Hiei seems to think I'm progressing."

"You would progress further, faster, if you weren't so exhausted all the time." Hiei said bluntly. "But you are progressing."

"I know, I know, but until after qualifiers, I don't have much of a choice." She replied with an air of having had this conversation many times before in the past few days.

Kurama trained his eyes for a moment on the shorter demon before taking time to really look at Hana. She did look tired, but he saw that it was deeper than that. He could see the tightness of skin around her eyes and how pale she looked. He could see that she was swaying on her feet, unsteady for one normally so graceful.

"You're pushing yourself too hard, you need to take it easy and focus on one thing at a time." Kurama told her.

She frowned at him, taking several deep breaths before replying. "Too hard? Take it easy? What the heck else am I supposed to do?! I'm doing the best I can Suichi!" she still had trouble calling him Kurama even after all she had learned. "I'm sorry it's not working for you, but I don't have the luxury of allowing my entire life to be upended by this...this...crap! Demons and Spirit world and little Princes who come in and tell me that suddenly I have to give up all of my life goals for some powers I never asked for!"

Suddenly he could see that he had inadvertently lit a fuse to her temper that must have been simmering just under the surface. Now it was a full rolling boil.

"This couldn't have come at a worse time! I've been training for this my entire life and just when I think it might finally be smooth sailing until after the qualifiers it turns out I'm a freaking Seer?! Like, what even is that? All I wanted was to skate until I was too old to compete and then retire and own a private training business for other Olympic hopefuls. I wanted to design other people's routines, choreography! Now it looks like I'll be telling strangers' fortunes for an entire aspect of civilization that I didn't know existed until half a month ago!"

She was breathing hard after her rant. Her eyes shone with unshed tears of frustration as she shot him a death glare. Then Hana abruptly turned to march up the stairs with a quick statement of, "Hiei, thank you for another lesson, Yusuke, good to see you. Good night and see you all tomorrow." And stomped right past him without so much as another glance.

Kurama pinched the bridge of his nose, inwardly smacking himself for his thoughtlessness.

"Good one." Yusuke smirked and Kurama had to restrain himself from smacking him instead.

"Yes, I believe that it would be unwise to continue making her upset at this juncture." Hiei said neutrally. "She is still physically exhausted from her energy outburst and further emotional upheaval will only prolong the healing process." Kurama could tell that Hiei was saying it as carefully as he could, but it still stung in more ways than one. "But I believe," Hiei continued, "That she chose to 'go off on you' as Yuremeshi would say, because she knows you the best. She knows you won't be mad at her for yelling. She will apologize tomorrow."

Kurama looked sideways at the fire demon. "You know her well for only a few weeks." The thought made him taste acid in the back of his mouth.

He shrugged, "Much of what we do in our training takes place in our heads. I've spent enough time in hers so far to have a general idea of how she operates. I suspect that when she is finished we will know each other well." Hiei shrugged again as if it didn't matter to him. "That's simply a side-effect of psychic training."

Again, logical and emotionless. Kurama suspected that Hiei was attempting to make this as painless for both of them as possible. And perhaps with more time Kurama would be grateful for those olive branches. But right now he was still pissed, so he didn't answer.

"So, who's staying with her tonight?" Yusuke chimed in, oblivious to the nuances of the conversation.

"I will." Hiei said with no hesitation.

Yusuke blinked. "But you've done that for the past several nights." He frowned. "What's your angle, Hiei? Was Botan right about you having the hots for her?"

Hiei stiffened minutely at the accusation but managed to reply evenly. "When she is asleep her mind is able to heal and I can assist with that process better if I am in close proximity. That way the training will go faster and we can all rid ourselves of this situation as fast as possible and move on to another mission."

Kurama had to hand it to Hiei, he was quick under pressure. He also noted that the other demon didn't deny the last part of Yusuke's question.

"I guess that makes sense," Yusuke allowed, obviously disappointed that he couldn't tease Hiei further than that. "But we can't afford for anyone to get burned out with constantly watching and waiting for something to happen. Tomorrow night I'll stay, then Kurama and Kuwabara. Let's keep that rotation for as long as it takes to get Hana to Genkai's place after the Olympics."

With that agreement in place, Kurama left Hana's house and continued on home, struggling once more in solitude with his mixed emotions.

* * *

Hana plopped down heavily on her bed, pajamas in place, teeth brushed and wide awake. She felt guilt for reacting that way to Suichi (she still couldn't think of him as Kurama). He certainly hadn't deserved it-she knew he was just worried about her. But honestly, she didn't see any other way out of this situation. She knew that she needed to learn to control her powers so that they didn't hurt her or others around her. But at the same time she wasn't giving up on her dream of competing in the Olympics, especially being able to represent Japan when the Olympics were being _held in Japan._ It was an opportunity that would never come around again while she was still able to skate at her current level.

So, she would simply have to do both. And she would, just like she had achieved everything else in her life: through hard work and applying learned skills.

She decided that she would apologize to Suichi in the morning and rolled under the covers and willed herself to sleep.

_Suddenly, she found herself in a strange place. She was in a stadium made of some curious black material. She was standing on a grassy lawn facing a ring of some kind. She studied the scene, realizing that it must be some kind of martial arts tournament. Curious she looked closer having never seen one before. _

_The crowd was deafening, the spectators shouting and cat-calling. But upon further inspection of who comprised the crowd, she realized with an odd jolt that not everyone appeared to be human. In fact, almost none of the crowd had humanoid features. She saw ogres like those she had seen in Koenma's office helping with his paperwork. She saw creatures with fangs, feathers and even one with pig ears. _

_What in the world? _

"_Ladies and demons! Put your paws together for our undefeated champions, Team Toguro!" A fox-like woman spoke into the microphone while dancing around the center of the marble ring. _

_From the left, a door opened up and several figures came striding out into the sunlight. Hana scanned them, frowning and looking for some kind of point to what she was seeing. Suddenly, she locked eyes with a small man with long grey hair. _

_He alone seemed to notice her, and he smiled sending a wave of nauseating pain through her skull. _

"Hana...Hana!" She felt herself being shaken awake by firm hands in the dark of her room.

Her room. On her bed. Not some creepy tournament with demons.

She could have cried in relief. "I'm...I'm awake, I'm okay."

The shaking stopped and she could hear Hiei breath out in relief. "I could sense the pain you had, I knew it couldn't be too comfortable. Are you alright?"

She groped around in the dark and pulled the chain of her bedside table lamp. The light flickered on and illuminated Hiei's concerned face. Hana felt her cheeks warm when she realized that Hiei was still inches away, crouched on the ground, and she was in her pajamas which consisted of an old t-shirt and sleeping shorts. No bra.

"Yes, yes. It was just a dream. Nothing to worry about." She frowned as she touched her head, the shooting pain gone but the memory of its bite remained. Still conscious of her appearance, she pulled the sheets closer to her body.

Hiei regarded her and stood up from his position on the floor just to sit down on the bed beside her, his leg coming up and brushing against hers though she was still mostly under the covers. She moved away only slightly, unused to being this close to another person.

She frowned and asked him, "Why does it hurt me when I see things with my powers?"

Hiei looked at her and didn't answer for a minute, thinking. "I believe it's like training a physical muscle. When you first start a new physical routine it leaves you sore the next day. Mental and psychic exertion is a bit like that as well. But in your case your powers are too powerful for your current level of stamina. So when you are in unguarded moments such as asleep or just waking up, your powers make leaps that they wouldn't otherwise."

"So you think the pain will go away with more training and time?"

Hiei nodded.

"Makes sense. I really still can't believe that this is happening to me." She leaned back against her headboard in frustration. "This isn't how I saw my life turning out at all."

Hiei was quiet again for some time and Hana was about to say that she was ready to go back to bed when he asked her something unexpected.

"There was a word you used earlier."

"...huh?" She asked, not understanding his statement.

"You said a word earlier. Some human word...one I am unfamiliar with. Some human words I don't know because we don't have the equivalent in Demon World. You said it was something that you wanted to do after you were done competing...what does it mean?"

Hana looked at him hard, trying to think of what she had said in her fit of rage. "Did you mean...choreography?"

Hiei nodded and waited for an explanation.

"Ah. Well, you've seen me skate, right?"

Again he nodded, his eyes intent on hers.

"Well, the movements I make, we call it a 'program', are all designed. Someone plans those movements and the degree of difficulty of the program determines the score and who wins during a competition. The person who plans the program is the choreographer."

"I see. You want to create those for others." He looked like he wasn't sure what he thought about that. Hana found the expression to be unexpectedly cute which seemed totally at odds with his whole persona.

"I want to create something that expresses beauty and strength. And something unique that each skater wants to say about themselves. It's sort of like...art. Do demons have art?"

Hiei chuckled at that. "Not in the way humans think of art. We view art as in the art of war."

"Sun Tzu?" She asked, frowning.

"Who?" Hiei cocked his head and narrowed his eyes at her.

Hana laughed and suddenly didn't care much at all about how tired she was, or the fact that just a few weeks ago, her life seemed to have been completely flipped on its head. She knew that whatever happened that she would figure it out as long as she had people around to help her.

* * *

**Please again let me know your thoughts! I was inspired by the upcoming summer Olympics in Japan this year. I know that the summer doesn't have ice skating, but I can switch it around for this story! Also, I am not an expert at all on ice skating, but I will do my best to make future scenes believable. Finally, I have been toying around with possibly adding some character appearances with Yuri! on Ice into this fic just for fun, they won't do much to interfere with the plot I have already planned out. If you think it would be cool, let me know! **


	3. Chapter 3

**Hello again and welcome back for chapter 3! As always I don't own Yu Yu Hakusho and please comment and let me know your thoughts! I am certainly enjoying writing this story and I hope everyone enjoys reading it!**

**Happy Monday!**

* * *

Chapter 3:

Hana's breath came out in little puffs of steam, almost like a dragon's breath. It was a thought that she often had as a child in the icy air of the rink, when the cold was a novelty instead of a dear friend. She was leaning heavily against the boards, oblivious to anyone else around her. Her legs trembled beneath her, sweat trickled off her face and landed in little plops on the surface of the ice. Qualifiers were in five days time, which meant that the Olympics themselves were only a month away.

She couldn't believe how the days had begun to blur together. When she wasn't at the rink or turning in make-up work for school, (forget going to classes, she had taken a leave of absence until after the games and was completing work when she could) she was learning to control these mysterious psychic powers she now possessed.

Luckily, all the training appeared to be paying off. She was no longer jolted awake in the middle of the night with visions or with the accompanying pain. She found that she was able to control-at least to a certain extent-when the visions hit her and when they didn't. With effort and self-control she could push off the feeling of a vision when she knew it was coming on to be experienced later. Usually at a more convenient time like when she wasn't trying to hurl herself into the air and rotate three or four times over hard ice and then land perfectly on one foot.

This ability had come just in time as she couldn't afford to be distracted more than she already was.

"Hana! Time to go again!" Said a voice from the sidelines and Hana looked up and saw the stern face of her couch, Mizuki.

"Yes, sir! From the top?"

Mizuki nodded and folded his arms across his chest like he always did when he was evaluating her.

Hana took a deep breath to steady herself and gently glided towards the center of the ice, taking a few extra seconds to continue to calm her accelerated heart rate. She stopped and assumed her starting position. She heard the opening bars of the music, this time her long program was accompanied by Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto Number Three, and she was off. She flowed through the music, making sure not to rush through the moves but to glide through them until she got to that sweet spot where she didn't even have to consciously think of what she would have to perform next.

That feeling that was so ingrained at this point that it was muscle memory.

She allowed her mind to go completely silent, just focusing on the sound of the music and the swishing of her blades as they cut through the ice. She went through several loops and axles during the routine, moves that had once seemed totally impossible for her to accomplish. However at this point, the challenge was not to be able to _just _do them, but to ensure that each was executed perfectly to achieve the maximum possible score.

She was utterly kinesthetic through the moves, barely noticing that the music was coming to an end and only really realizing the depth of her fatigue when she finally stopped moving, chest heaving and muscles once again trembling.

She stood in her final posture, arms spread wide as she gazed into the glaring lights of the rink. She heard solitary clapping and looked up to see Mizuki staring at her stoically, hands coming together slowly and deliberately.

"Amazing Hana. Just fantastic! I can't believe you gave me that performance after so many hours today. If you skate anywhere near that level you will not only qualify, but I think we stand a serious chance of placing on the podium." He called.

Hana was totally silent but for the ragged gasps she was making, allowing herself the luxury of not moving for several blissful seconds before her coach's words sank in.

"You really think so?" She was moving towards him slowly now, her body refusing to move with any more speed purely out of fatigue.

"Absolutely. I think it's time we took a good rest. You've been burning the candle at both ends. I think it would be best to stay away from the rink for the next three days and then only light practice up until qualifiers." He was nodding, his usually stoic face was pleasant and relaxed, two adjectives that were rarely applied to him.

"Are...are you sure?" Worry crept into her tone. "I don't want to lose my edge now, we're doing so well."

"You _will_ lose your edge if you keep pushing yourself like this." His tone was insistent. "You need to give yourself a breather in order to perform at your best. I recommend light runs in the morning and the usual stretching routine three times a day. Then we will re-evaluate on Monday." Mizuki was nodding more vigorously now as if he was trying to talk himself into something. "Go on home for now and get some much-needed R and R!"

He guided her gently off the ice and the second she had her blade-protectors in place she was hobbling as fast as she could to the locker room. Some moments later she was exiting the rink, freshly showered and totally exhausted. So tired was she that she hadn't even gotten it together to blow-dry her hair even though the weather said that snow was due that night. The only thing she wanted to do was to sink into her bed and sleep for as long as she was able.

She was about to leave the building and begin the journey home when a male voice pulled Hana out of thoughts of her bed and forced her to focus on the person who had spoken.

"Rough session, eh, Saito? You look like you could blow over from a light breeze." She looked up to see that a male figure skater named Kyo was who had asked her the question. He looked like he was ready to head home as well, he was bundled up in a large puffy coat.

"Ah...yeah. Mizuki went a little harder than usual on me because of qualifiers. How about you?" She asked politely, she didn't know Kyo well, only that he was another Olympic hopeful for the men's team. She had seen him in and out of the rink over the past few months, getting in as much ice time as he could.

"Not too bad, I don't think that I'll need to stress out too much though. After all, the real competition will be on the Olympic ice." He shrugged and grinned at her in a lop-sided way that triggered something unexpected.

_Suddenly Hana wasn't in the rink any more but was once again face-to-face with the small man with long grey hair who she had first seen in a dream several weeks ago. _

_He was speaking and Hana couldn't find it in her power not to listen. "What a sad life when your friends aren't even straight with you, but I will tell you everything about the frailty of your human kind. It's the story of a young, impressionable human girl named Genkai. She was the most beautiful girl in all the land. She was a fighter who wanted to be the very best in the world. Then she met a man named Toguro who also wanted to be the best, and he agreed to play with her. They did everything together. So much so that the man nearly forgot his own brother. The woman and the man were even in love. But then the woman became ugly like a prune and no one wanted to be around her._"

_The first man appeared to be speaking to someone else that Hana couldn't quite see, but she did know that she seemed to be standing with them in the middle of a forest clearing. However, it wasn't the unseen person who responded but a third man who was so large that Hana couldn't quite believe it._

"_Brother…" The huge man replied with warning in his voice. _

_The smaller man continued speaking to the unseen person as if he hadn't heard his brother. "Oh, it's okay. He's just a little anxious because this next chapter is his favorite part in the story. You see, the man became a demon who had stayed strong and never became a prune. The ugly woman became extremely jealous of the handsome man and went to fight him, but she wasn't strong anymore, so the man was happy to murder her." _

_The small man gave a high-pitched laugh that rang through Hana's ears and trailed down the length of her spine. It made her want to run, to escape and get as far away from the source of the sound as she possibly could. _

And just like that Hana was brought once again back to the reality of the bright fluorescent lights of the rink and the concerned face of her fellow skater.

"Hey Saito! Are you okay? Should I call Mizuki for you?" Kyo was clasping both of her upper arms with his, bracing her against him as it appeared that her knees were close to buckling.

"No, no. I'm fine. I just need some extra potassium or water or something." She moved back from Kyo, too disturbed by what she had seen and heard to really give more of an excuse than that.

"Well if you're sure you're-" but she didn't stay to hear the rest of his sentence. She pushed past him and out the doors into the frosty night air. She breathed deeply, relishing the bite of the air in her lungs. This was real, pain was real. Whatever she had seen in there wasn't real, it wasn't what was happening right now. Hana was finding it harder and harder to snap back into her present during the episodes, though the episodes themselves were getting easier to control. It was as if she could avoid them only so long before one would swallow her up like a monster. She shook her head, willing herself to come back totally into her own story. She would focus on getting home and getting to bed.

Then, she would figure out what the latest version might mean for her future.

* * *

Hiei wasn't exactly _worried_ about Hana. Then again, he wasn't sure what word he would use in its place. Perhaps curious? Maybe cautious? Whatever it was he certainly wasn't worried. That would imply that he was becoming too attached to her. And he wasn't ready for that to be the case. He wasn't sure if he was ready for it to ever be the case, yet one more thing he needed to figure out. And he was getting tired of adding to the list.

While Hana trained for her ice skating during the day, Hiei had been doing a great deal of thinking about the bond he had inadvertently placed upon her. From what he could recall about psychic bonds their strength depended on the strength of those who were connected. He recalled that their power could wax and wane depending on a multitude of factors including physical health and strength of emotion either may be experiencing.

At that particular moment he could close his eyes and feel the tug of the bond. He could feel vague emotional states coming from Hana's end but nothing more as of yet. He was doing his best to keep his portion of the bond completely silent, especially when he accompanied her into her mind during their daily training sessions. He was pleased overall with her current level of control of her visions and with her grasp on the basics of grounding and psychic awareness; he had no desire for the presence of the bond to be introduced to her at such an early stage. It could cause complications that Hiei wasn't prepared for.

In addition to her foresight, Hana was also able to sense energy and see those who would otherwise be invisible to a typical human such as spirits and demons in their true form. The trick was getting her to be able to successfully dampen her immense powers without stopping them completely and thus triggering a psychic storm as she had the second time they had met. Hiei needed her to gain control over her powers without totally suppressing them.

Some of the...worry...that he felt for lack of a better word right at that moment, was due to how physically exhausted she was because of skating. Hana had taken the time to explain the prestige and importance of this competition she was obsessed with to Hiei. And he in turn could truly appreciate the idea that she was about to experience something she had worked for her entire life. He understood exactly what it felt like to be so close to achieving something of that magnitude.

Afterall, Hiei had been in similar situations. He understood her drive and the relentless need to pursue her goals. He didn't want to take that away from her. But he was concerned that the physical exhaustion would cause her energy to spike at a time that could cause other demons to become aware of her presence.

A time just like during these Olympic games.

Hiei knew that demons fed not just on human souls from time-to-time, but also their energy. Any large event that could cause excitement and the kind of crowd-mentality that she had described as being a large part of the Olympics would definitely draw demons and other rogue spirits in droves.

Hiei sighed heavily. It was a problem that they knew they would have to face when Hana first stood her ground in Koenma's office. He just wished that he had also realized the additional challenge that her physical training would cause.

But he was spared further lamentations as he spotted Hana coming with haste out of the rink.

"I'm going home, no practice tonight." She said it bluntly without looking at him as she breezed past.

Hiei was taken aback. She had never addressed him like that. He felt strangely...hurt. No, no. A human couldn't possibly hurt him. Must be that gods-forsaken bond again. He brushed the thought aside and quickly caught up with Hana's short strides, pointing out the obvious in response. "We had an agreement. One hour for our practice every day after your other practice."

Hana didn't answer.

Hiei growled in irritation (he wasn't hurt, dammit!) and sped up to block her way down the path. "What happened?" He crossed his arms in front of his chest and glared down at her. He was only taller by about five inches, but it was enough to get his point across.

"I just...I just want to go home and go to bed, okay? Please Hiei." Her bright purple eyes gazed up at him and he was able to take in how exhausted she looked. She had dark circles under her eyes and he could see that she hadn't even bothered to dry her hair, the ends were already starting to freeze thanks to the low temperature of the evening air.

Hiei continued to look at her before coming to a decision, his emotions quickly shifting from irritation to that protective edge that was slowly becoming more familiar. "Fine. You can skip, but just for tonight. Tomorrow we continue where we left off." He dropped down and gathered her in his arms, much to Hana's surprise as she yelped. "Let's get you home before you collapse."

"Hiei, wait, I didn't mean-" but before she could finish he had already started to run and within minutes they were back at her house. He noted that again her father wasn't home, Hana had explained early on that he would be out much of the time working to support some of the costs associated with her skating.

He placed her down easily enough and without another word he began to make his way into her house. He glanced back after a few steps and saw that Hana wasn't following him. "...What?"

"I can't believe that you just carried me two miles in less than five minutes. How is that possible?" She blinked at him.

Hiei shrugged, "I've carried you that fast before." Then he stopped to consider that. "But you were unconscious so I guess you wouldn't remember." He shrugged again, not sure what else to say before settling on, "Demon, remember?" And waved her forward to unlock the door.

"I guess...you just don't look anything like what I think a demon would look like." She tiredly fished out her keys and let them into her house, flipping on the lights as she slid off her shoes. She winced as her tired feet padded through the house.

"What did you think a demon would look like?" Hiei asked, genuinely curious. He helped her unload her backpack from her shoulder and followed her into the living room where Hana collapsed directly onto the couch with a little sigh of relief.

"I don't know. Something with horns? Maybe fangs? Something scary."

"You don't think I look scary. Not even with my Jagan?" He was more amused now, but secretly glad that she didn't find him to be scary. Another thought he wouldn't dwell on for too long.

Hana shrugged. "I mean, it's different. You're different from anyone I've ever met. But I don't think you're scary." She frowned as though remembering something and shuddered. "I've seen scarier, that's for sure. Besides, I don't think it's someone's outer appearance that's scary, it's more of a feeling that you get when you're around them." She looked up at that moment, locking gazes with him, purple and red eyes mingling together in the quiet of the room.

Hiei found that his mouth was suddenly dry, his awareness of the bond suddenly at the forefront of his mind. The feeling was so clear that he felt like he could almost see it, the power that was connecting him to Hana. He was also _very_ aware that they were seated within arms length on the couch.

He cleared his throat a little before asking, "And what feeling do you get when you're around me?"

Hana parted her lips for a moment, her eyes widened slightly as if she wasn't sure how to answer. Hiei leaned in towards her, his eyes never leaving hers during that moment. She breathed in slightly, about to answer. "...Hiei...you-"

"You're home early!"

Both Hiei and Hana froze before jumping back from each other and looking at the front entrance to the house, Hana with guilt painting her features while Hiei was simply furious at the interruption.

"Huh. Figures it would be the idiot." Hiei retorted, eyes narrowed as Kuwabara came totally into the living area of Hana's house.

"He, he, what's up guys?" Kuwabara asked. "How come you're here so early?"

"Well Hiei was nice enough to let me skip the mental practice, I'm totally beat from the rink today." Hana said mildly, stifling a yawn as she did so.

"Wait, did you say 'Hiei' and 'nice' in the same sentence? What planet are you on?" Kuwabara joked. "The shrimp isn't nice, he's downright mean." He grinned at Hana expecting her to agree.

She frowned at him, about to respond when Hiei cut in.

"Enough talk, moron. She said she's tired, you don't need to be here to watch her since we didn't end up doing the psychic training. I'll stay instead, so just leave." Hiei was pissed enough to want to punch Kuwabara in the face for the interruption and he wasn't even sure why. All he knew was that his instincts were screaming to get the ginger out of the vicinity.

"Uhh but what about the rotation?" Kuwabara blinked at him, then something like intelligence seemed to dawn in his beady eyes. "Ohh...I know what's going on, Botan was right."

Hiei clenched his jaw so hard that he heard the bones creak. He knew, just _knew_ what Kuwabara was going to say next like he knew on instinct when someone was going to throw a punch his way.

"You do like Hana, isn't that right shrimp? Ha, ha, ha!"

"Kazuma, please stop being so mean to Hiei." Hana's tired voice cut into the conversation. "He doesn't like me, he's just doing his job."

Hiei swallowed down the cutting remark he had been about to make to train his eyes on Hana. He could see that the conversation had taken its toll on her. She had stood up from the couch but was swaying slightly, rubbing at her slightly red eyes, obviously fighting to stay awake.

"I'm the one being mean? I can't believe this-ah. Hey, Hana, you don't look so good. Maybe you should go to bed." Kuwabara said, cutting himself off once he turned to face her.

Hiei hissed. "That's what I said, idiot. She _is _going to bed so just leave."

"Hey, I'm just here to help!"

"Kazuma, thanks for coming, I appreciate it. But what Hiei said is correct. I'm just going to go to bed and see what time it is when I wake up. Coach Mizuki gave me the next three days to rest so I can regain some of my energy. Hiei, can we practice tomorrow before lunch?"

Hiei nodded and watched as Hana turned and padded her way towards her room before softly shutting the door. He had an indescribable urge to follow her, but he refrained.

"I still think you like her, shrimp."

Hiei gave in to his next impulse which was to punch Kuwabara swiftly in the gut. That at least, was one feeling he could understand.

* * *

Thankfully when Hana awoke the next day it was from a rest completely devoid of dreams. She was so used to dreaming at this point that the experience of simply falling asleep and then waking up with no memory of the in-between felt delightfully novel.

She took a few moments to luxuriate in the feeling of laying in her warm bed without having to actually get up for anything in particular. She let her mind wander, not paying attention before she was reminded of her interaction with Hiei on the couch the night before. She frowned, not quite sure what had made him ask her that question. How did Hiei make her feel? She had been so busy lately that she hadn't given it much thought.

She rolled over onto her side and considered the query. Hiei was certainly good-looking. She had thought so ever since she had first seen him in Suichi's living room weeks earlier. He was strong and intelligent and she quite liked the color of his eyes. In fact when she had first seen his eyes she felt something connect them together, like some kind of gravitational force. But maybe Hana was being dramatic or romantic which wasn't like her at all. She wasn't sure what exactly she felt with Hiei was around, only that it was a tugging sensation centered somewhere in her gut.

Something almost like electricity. And it wasn't a _bad_ feeling.

Hana frowned. So she thought he was attractive and felt like there was some kind of connection between them. What else? She liked how patient he was with her and how helpful he was. Though according to Kuwabara that was some sort of fluke.

Hana tilted her head considering the possibility of what that meant. She _did_ trust Hiei. He had never given her a reason not to. Certainly there had been enough situations where he could have hurt her if he had wanted to. Indeed, each time she let him into her mind during one of their lessons she supposed that he could have taken whatever he wanted from her. But, what did he want?

Hiei had told her during their first training session that he was helping her because he wanted to. Hana didn't have a great deal of experience with men, much less demons, but she did know that it wasn't typical for someone to be so kind-hearted that they helped others only out of the goodness of their souls (did demons even have souls?). So if not that, why _was _Hiei doing this?

Hana sighed, frustrated with getting herself worked up over nothing. So what if he was helping her? The simplest answer to the 'why' was because it was his job, though he had denied that. If his denial was the case, then the only other reason that Hana could think of was because Hiei liked her.

She grinned a little at the idea. It seemed too simple, too run-of-the-mill. Not that Hana thought that she was unattractive or unworthy of such interest, but surely Hiei who was a powerful demon wouldn't want to be with a human, would he? Even one who was supposedly a powerful psychic and seer? Hana shook her head and decided that all her lying around was contributing to these absurd thoughts. She was itching to move even after the brutal workout of the day before. She needed to complete a run anyway, so might as well do it now. She hoped it would help clear her head and she could put thoughts of romance-no matter how outlandish-out of her head.

That train of thought brought her out to the road and the feeling of pumping arms and legs. Just a leisurely run around the block and through some trails at her local park. The sun was out in full force that morning; though it was still frigid from the snow the night before. Since Hana had been able to sleep later than usual she was pleasantly surprised that some industrious soul had cleared the path of the ice and powered snow that had blanketed the landscape making it a smooth jog.

Her breath came in easy bursts, her goal for the run not to strain or push herself, only loosen and warm muscles that had become cramped during the night. Hana went through her body muscle by muscle checking for soreness and uncomfortable heat as she moved forward. She was focused on the task with her usual single-mindedness so it came as quite a shock when she ran into someone full-force.

"Ooof!" Hana gasped, arms flailing wildly in order to catch herself and avoid injury on the hard ground.

"Careful there, girlie. Don't want to get hurt...there will be plenty of time for that later."

She felt the hands of someone quite strong clamp themselves on her wrists which abruptly stopped her from hitting the concrete path. But that was when the good news about the incident stopped.

Hana looked up at the sound of the voice and found herself looking back at something that wasn't human.

* * *

Hiei was dosing in a tree when he felt a stab of fear course down the link he shared with Hana. The sensation caused him to jolt to attention and immediately he began to search for the source. With a grunt of frustration he realized that Hana was no longer inside of her house.

How had he missed her leaving?

Growling at himself in frustration, Hiei moved with haste towards his sense of her spirit energy. Since Hana was a psychic, she gave off waves of stronger than average energy-but it was something that she had learned to control and wouldn't appear to be different than any other human. However, Hiei was able to sense her signature more easily due to the bond they shared and because her energy was heightened by fear.

Hiei gritted his teeth as he followed the bond to a park less than a mile from Hana's house. He was able to quickly locate the Seer and when he did he happened upon a scene that he could have predicted-though he didn't have powers of foresight-but to emotions that were unpredictable.

Hana was being lifted off the ground by a demon; he appeared to be a low-class entity, not one that Hiei would ever pay attention to in a different circumstance. The demon was doing the lifting by Hana's wrists, her entire body hovering several inches off of the group and the effect was clearly causing her pain. But she was attempting to fight the beast. Her legs were swinging with some calculation to kick the creature squarely in the face. She must have already connected a few times because blood was beginning to leak out of the creature's nose and mouth.

"Get...off...of...me!" She shouted, kicking with each word in order to force him to let her go.

But despite all of her efforts the beast was holding on tight.

The entire sight caused Hiei to see red, his rage coursing through him like a blaze through dry kindling. In hindsight, he would struggle to remember the last time he had felt that impressive amount of feeling about anything, but at that moment the only thing he was interested in was killing the creature who was hurting Hana.

Hiei jumped forward so fast that the demon would never even sense his presence, drawing his sword and slicing through his opponent with such force that his blade cleaved the mass in two before becoming embedded into the ground.

The demon didn't realize that it had been killed for several seconds before it collapsed into a pile of goo, Hana then relinquished from its grip as it did so. Hiei darted forward, abandoning his sword momentarily to catch her before she hit the ground.

Hiei drew back from the mound of steaming meat and blood while also monitoring the rest of the surrounding area in case the ogre had brought friends.

"Hiei! How on earth did you find me? I can't believe you cut it in half, that was so freaky!" Hana blinked up with his with her amethyst eyes in wonder, but he didn't answer her, still too caught up in his rage and blood-lust.

"Hiei?" She asked again, uncertainty in her tone.

"Was this filth the only one to attack you?" He asked instead, his tone icy and cold with anger.

"I think so, I was really only focused on getting away from him, so I didn't think to look anywhere else. Hiei?"

"What?" He asked, still not looking at her in favor of scanning their surroundings.

"Can you put me down please? I'm okay."

He started and realized that he was indeed still clutching her tightly to his chest. He grunted and complied, setting her gently on the ground. "Are you hurt anywhere? Did he scratch you at all? Some of the inhabitants of Demon World can have poison naturally secrete from their claws." He was looking her over, raising her arms and examining her wrists now, satisfied that the creature had been on its own and there was no longer an immediate threat.

"I said I'm fine, luckily you came just at the right time. How were you able to do that? I thought I would have been too far away for anyone to sense me." She was looking at him intently, a small line appeared between her brows as she scrutinized him.

Hiei was beginning to calm down now and realizing that she may be onto something potentially problematic. Hiei hadn't yet informed her of the existence of the psychic bond between them and she was correct, she had been too far away for anyone else to sense. But the fire demon was nothing if not a quick thinker and luckily he had the perfect excuse.

"My Jagan eye is able to see over much further distances, remember? I was able to find you easily." He tapped the white bandana he used to cover the implant in emphasis. "Now, are you sure that thing didn't puncture your skin?"

"Oh yeah, I keep forgetting about your other eye. And yes I'm sure. My wrists are a little sore from his grip but I don't think that it'll cause any further problems, maybe some bruising." She rolled both of her wrists slowly and then faster to illustrate her point.

At the word 'bruising' Hiei felt the edges of his vision once more tinge scarlet and he ground his teeth in frustration. It took a great deal of self-control but he was able to walk away from Hana long enough to grab his sword and clean the blade of blood with some of the fallen snow. He shook his head to clear it.

Hiei had heard that a psychic bond could result in heightened emotions including protectiveness and aggression when triggered. But this he hadn't been expecting, he felt completely off-kilter by the strength of these feelings. He spared a glance at Hana who was still moving her wrists to ensure nothing was broken or damaged and he wondered, was he the only one of them that the bond was affecting?

* * *

Kurama was on his way to Hana's for his turn with the rotation when he noticed the unmistakable smell of blood outside of her house. Concerned, he burst through the front door to find...absolutely nothing amiss.

Hana was sitting quietly on the couch, book in her hand, while Hiei (of course he was there, he was always there) was sitting on the floor with a whetstone sharpening the blade of his sword.

Kurama stood there, blinking heavily as the sound of the blade sliding across the stone never wavered.

"Suichi, is everything alright?" Hana asked, looking shocked that he had come into the house without knocking.

"Yes...quite alright. Did something happen? I smelled the scent of blood outside just now."

"A low level demon attacked her while she was running. I took care of it." Hiei said shortly, eyes burning a hole in the steel of the sword with the intensity of his gaze.

"A demon? Hana, are you hurt? Are you alright?" Kurama went to sit by her on the couch failing to notice Hiei stand up abruptly as he did so.

"I said she's fine." The fire demon ground out. Hiei was standing now and Kurama observed that Hiei looked as though he would lunge at any second for Kurama's throat.

"Hiei, what's wrong? You were fine just a second ago, why are you so angry?" Hana frowned at him, irritation flickering across her face. "Suichi's asking a fair question."

Hiei stilled at her tone, relaxing with effort that shone through on his face. "It's nothing." He turned to grab his sword and the accompanying stone and moved towards the front door. "I'll be back later for your lesson." He said over his shoulder and left the house, the door swinging shut noiselessly behind him.

"What's gotten into him?" Hana wondered aloud. "He was perfectly fine until you came in and sat next to me. Did you two get into a fight or something?" She turned her eyes towards him at the last question.

Kurama stilled, taken aback at how close to the truth she was. However, that wasn't why Hiei had reacted that way and though Kurama had his own suspicions regarding the actions of his fellow demon, he wasn't going to share then presently with Hana.

"I have no idea, what happened earlier?"

So Hana told him about going for a jog through the local park and literally running into the demon. She described how Hiei had come to the rescue, quickly cutting the demon down and checking that she was alright.

While she talked, Kurama took in the information but only as an afterthought. The majority of his attention was focused on what Hiei had done only moments ago in the middle of Hana's living room. Kurama was fairly certain that the fire demon was experiencing aspects of the psychic bond which resulted in bursts of intense emotion such as territorial feelings and protective instincts. If that was the case, it was quite natural as the primary purpose of enacting a bond was to attempt to not only complete it but to ensure the safety of your partner. And vice versa.

Kurama had always thought of it as a kind of insurance policy. A demon would stake their claim by forming the bond and then using their own spirit energy they would nurture the connection while also determining if the connection would be mutually beneficial. Since part of that connection took energy and time, it was natural to want to protect it.

Ah. That made sense.

Kurama was fairly certain that at this point in the process, Hiei was fighting with himself due to the fact that it was a bond held-in part-by a human. Hana, having no idea that the bond existed wouldn't know to do her portion by contributing some of her spirit energy for it to strengthen and mature. And Hiei, as stubborn as usual, hadn't told her. Therefore he was stuck with forming the bond mostly on his own which would result in the illusion of one-way feelings and intentions.

Kurama chucked, no empathy present in the sound. The sly fox within was quite pleased with Hiei's predicament-especially since the fire demon had created it entirely on his own. Kurama had promised himself that he wouldn't interfere with the bond, but this...this wasn't helping or hurting exactly. He was simply choosing not to intervene at all. That, that he could live with.

"Hey, are you even listening to me?" Hana asked, her voice sounding exasperated.

"Yes, yes I heard you quite clearly. It sounds like you had a trying day." Kurama answered pleasantly, his mood lighter than it had been for some days.

"I mean, I guess if you want to call getting nearly killed a 'trying day' then, sure. But there's one more part I-" but Hana didn't finish.

Kurama had just enough time to grab her before Hana leaned dangerously side-ways, still seated on the couch, clutching her head with both hands and gasping noiselessly.

"Hana! What's wrong?" But even as he said the words, Kurama already knew. Though he had never seen the effects of Hana's powers in-person, Hiei had described the signs to the team so they would know what to look for quite well. Kurama could only wait, helpless as the psychic powers gripped Hana fiercely.

Slowly, after about a minute, Hana began to relax, gently pushing against Kurama in an effort to right herself. She was breathing slowly and deeply, a technique she had worked on with Hiei in an effort to control the powers and stay calm through the experience. Finally, he sensed that she would be fine on her own and moved away from her, searching her face for any sign that something was amiss.

"Kurama…,"

He started at the name. It was the first time she had called him anything but Suichi.

"Kurama...who's Taguro?"

* * *

**The quote from the vision listed above was gotten off of 'Anime Quotes' but it didn't list the episode it was from. Does anyone know which episode?**

**Special shout out to RoyalBlueRoses for commenting on the last two chapters, thanks so much for your support, it means a lot!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hello and welcome back for the next chapter! I hope everyone enjoys it, it was a bit harder for me to write. I knew where I wanted it to end but it was a heck of a time getting there. As always, please read and review and stay tuned for chapter 5!**

**I don't own YYH!**

* * *

Chapter 4

Hiei was taking out his frustrations on several hundred pounds of concrete in an abandoned building when he heard Kurama's psychic call.

_Hiei, come quickly, you are needed. _

Hiei paused from his exercises, debating the possible consequences of remaining silent and ignoring the call, but then Kurama sent a mental picture of Hana, her face scrunched up in pain-obviously due to an episode of Seeing be found he didn't have much of a choice at all. He would go, but this time he would remain in control of himself.

As Hiei darted back towards Hana's house he focused on calming his mind, pushing out any unwanted emotions. He didn't know exactly why one of Hana's visions would cause Kurama to call Hiei back so soon after his outburst towards the fox, but Hiei suspected it wouldn't be because it was something pleasant.

When Hiei arrived he discovered that Kurama had also called Yusuke, Kuwabara and even Botan as well as himself. All were present in the living room when he walked in.

"What happened?" Hiei asked quietly, all of the occupants of the room turning to look at him as he entered the living room. Hiei's eyes immediately went to Hana, satisfying the immediate need to ensure her safety.

"Hana had another vision in your absence as I sent you in my message. However, I think the details of it are quite disturbing." Kurama answered evenly. "I felt that we all needed to be present to receive this information. It will be critical in deciding what we will do next, and who we will need to involve."

"I thought you were supposed to be teaching her to stop getting these visions, Hiei. Whatever you're doing isn't working" Yusuke cut in, folding his arms as he shot the comment in Hiei's direction with no little amount of irritation.

"I am teaching her to _control_ them, detective. Her powers cannot be stopped. As I told you before the reason she had the initial psychic storm was because she had suppressed her powers for so long. By teaching her control I can ensure that she will be the master, not the energy she contains" He addressed Hana then, "Hana, why was this one different than the rest?"

Hana met his eyes for the first time since he had stormed out of the house hours earlier and considered his question. "I was able to pull myself out of it faster than the last few times but I had absolutely no control over when it happened. It's almost as if my control flip-flopped. I used to have trouble pulling myself out, but I've had some success with when they actually occur." She added more detail for the benefit of everyone else in the room, Hiei already knowing all of that.

"I see, and what exactly did the vision contain? I do hope that Kurama didn't jump the gun and simply call everyone here because you _had _a vision?" The comment was snide but Hiei couldn't bring himself to care. It seemed that he was going back on his promise of controlling himself. Funny how he kept doing that when Hana was concerned.

Hana shot him an exasperated look but answered. "No, that's not it. I asked Kurama about it-and it wasn't just this one, I've had others with this person-but the person's name is Taguro."

Whatever Hiei had been expecting, it hadn't been that. Everyone in the room froze. The fear was palpable.

"...what did he look like?" Yusuke asked quietly. "Which Taguro was it?"

Hana frowned. "He's a small man with long grey hair. He's the one who is speaking, though a much larger man often accompanies him. I think they are related-brothers, perhaps?"

Hiei immediately advanced towards Hana after she finished, only pausing long enough to gain wordless permission before he placed his hand upon her forehead.

At once he found himself walking along the familiar curves of her mind. He only had to walk for a few seconds before coming upon her mental-self.

"I'm guessing you want to see them for yourself?" She sounded amused by his action but also quite serious.

Hiei nodded. "Why didn't you mention what you've seen to me before? You said this wasn't the first time."

"...I see a lot of things, I didn't know that this person was someone you-or anyone else here-knew until the vision I saw today. When you see it you'll understand why I was able to draw a connection between everyone. I really hadn't any reason to before that." She blinked at him.

Hiei had to take a step back (mentally, though not in a way that Hana could currently see) and remind himself that he was pushing too far yet again. Hana didn't know about the bond-thus she didn't know of his growing desire to form it. Her sharing all the events she was witnessing with him wouldn't make sense unless she could piece it together with who she was around right at the moment. At this stage Hiei was a teacher-perhaps a friend-at this stage and he couldn't he sure that it would ever be more than that, or if that was what he wished himself. But he did know it was getting closer to when he would have to make some kind of decision. But he pushed the thought aside and focused on the task at hand.

Hiei again nodded, accepting her reasoning without protest. "May I see them?" He asked formally.

Hana nodded and closed her eyes, immediately transporting both of them back to her most recent memories.

_Hiei was in a cave, but one that he recognised. It was the same cave where he and the rest of the team had defeated the elder of the Taguro brothers during the fiasco with the Makai barrier. Kurama had trapped the foul creature using the help of the Sinning Tree. According to Kurama, Taguro would be trapped there for the rest of his life while the tree fed off of his energy, all while feeding the man visions and hallucinations of all of his past wrongs. _

_Hiei had thought it was a fitting end. _

_However as he scanned the cave, he noticed something amiss. The tree was still there-though withered with leaves littering the ground near its roots. But the tree's victim was not. Hiei felt a jolt of adrenaline course through him at the realization that Hana must be seeing this vision sometime _after _the elder Taguro brother had escaped. But how? How was he able to escape Kurama's trap? _

"_Thank you...master. I am truly in your debt for freeing me from that abominable fate." _

_Hiei turned towards the oily voice who he could only match to one person. _

"_No use wasting meaningless words of thanks on me, Taguro. Your actions going forward are all I need to assure your gratitude-and your loyalty. Now come. We have much to do...and a certain group of boys to punish."_

"_Certainly, certainly. Including the demon fox, Kurama."_

_The other voice laughed. "Yes, we will include Kurama. We wouldn't want him to be left out of the fun." _

The vision ended and Hiei found himself blinking at Hana. She was looking at him, trying to gauge his reaction, but continued to show him the other visions she had encountered surrounding Taguro. One vision was of the elder Tugoro insulting the memory of Genkai somewhere in the woods, and the last was only a glimpse of him at some point during the Dark Tournament.

"So in this vision since Taguro mentioned Kurama's name, that's why you told him? Why not upon hearing Genkai's name?" Hiei asked her.

Hana shrugged, "The one of Genkai was further in the past, it was something that didn't seem to connect to the here-and-now. I didn't think it applied since she was only mentioned briefly. The one I Saw today was more recent, it only occured in the past three days. The implications are more...urgent." She was frowning, he could tell that she was thinking through her decision-making process ensuring that what she had chosen made sense.

One thing that Hiei knew was that Hana valued logic and reason. She disliked working harder because she made a mistake, an error, and would ensure that she wouldn't have the same one twice. He knew that what she had decided made sense and told her so.

"Thank you Hiei. This is all still so new and I know that if I tell too much, it can impact the future in ways we can't see now. Thank you for trusting me."

Her smile did something he wasn't expecting to his gut. It wasn't unpleasant, but her sentence was troubling. Did he trust her? Hiei pushed the thought aside. He would, yet again, have much to think about later. First they needed to address the current threat. Hiei gently took her hand and they headed out of her mind to rejoin the others.

"Hey, no fair! I want to see what Hana's seeing too!" Kuwabara's voice, though far more preferable to Taguro's, was still grating on Hiei's ears.

"Alright, calm down. Hiei, Hana, what did you see? What happened?" Botan cut in.

"The bottom line is that Kurama's prison didn't end up holding him for as long as we were hoping." Hiei breathed. "And it looks like he's out for revenge."

"It appears that Taguro has escaped from the Sinning Tree with someone else's help." Hana said gravely. "That's all I was able to see. I understand that Taguro is a previous enemy of yours from what Kurama told me as we were waiting for everyone to gather. And I know that he somehow knows this Genkai person who Koenma had wanted me to train with initially. But, that's all I know." She raised her hands up helplessly and Hiei had to stop himself from grasping them impulsively to calm her.

"Moreover, for this accomplice to be able to break through Kurama's trap-something I didn't believe was possible-they must indeed be strong. We have just enough information to know that we are in danger, but not enough to be able to properly prepare." Hiei stated.

"Well, that sucks." Yusuke dead-panned. "And here I thought we were finally done with those psychos."

"It appears not quite. But I think that at least our next step is clear." Kurama said.

Everyone waited.

"...what is it?" Kuwabara finally asked.

Kurama blinked. "Well. We need to see Genkai of course."

* * *

Hana reflected with chagrin that it really was a good thing that Mizuki had allowed her to have three days off to rest before the Olympic trials. It allowed her to accompany the rest of the team to the house of Genkai, a mysterious figure it seemed.

She had come along only with the assurance that it would be for the day and that they would be back with one more day to spare before qualifiers. Somehow, even Hana couldn't predict whether that would come to pass. But she was determined to be back home before the day was done.

That was the funny thing about her powers. She could See in the past, present and future of those closest to her, those who were acquaintances, complete strangers, but never herself. Hana found that she could at times glimpse events of the past that she was _in_ but weren't her past. For example, she had been able to see several visions which included her mother when she had been pregnant with Hana and some of when Hana was a baby, but they always centered around her parents-never having a great deal to do with her. She was nothing more than a silent observer. And the same was true for the future, though those visions were even harder to obtain. Sometimes she could catch a glimpse of herself looking older, maybe twenty five or thirty, but never anything specific.

It was irritating on one hand, but on the other Hana was secretly relieved. She found that she didn't really want to know her own future. She found that she really didn't like knowing the future at all. She truly wished that she hadn't been 'gifted' with these powers. She didn't want the burden at all of knowing the things she Saw. But she had always been nothing if not realistic. This was the lot she had drawn and she would find a way to make the best of it.

"What're you so deep in thought about?"

Hana looked up and saw Yusuke watching her from across the aisle of the train. The group including Hana, Hiei, Kurama, Yusuke, Kuwabara and Boton had decided to take the first train that next day out to Genkai's property. Hana had been watching the landscape speed past, blocking out any other sights and sounds as she thought.

"Oh, just this and that." She said, vague with her answers.

"Let me guess. Nervous about meeting Grandma?" He grinned.

"From what you and everyone have told me she sounds pretty fierce. I think I'm right to be worried."

Yusuke laughed. "You got that right. Did I ever tell you the time she made me climb up a cliff with weights attached to my legs?"

Hana shook her head in amazement.

"And then, when I fell, instead of helping me up the Hag jumped down and punched me in the stomach-like a hundred times!-while I hung there by one arm, mind you-until I was forced to fight her off or fall to my death." He laughed again but Hana could sense a hysterical edge like he was covering up an invisible wound with his words. "Good times." He finished with something like real nostalgia coloring his tone.

"Yeah...good times." Hana echoed suddenly much more nervous than she had been a little bit ago. What kind of person was this Genkai? It sounded like her brand of training was some kind of torture.

"Don't let Yusuke concern you." Kurama cut into the conversation. "Genkai is particularly hard on him because of the dangers he's been in from previous assignments. That story is part of the training he had to undergo so he could survive the Dark Tournament."

The Dark Tournament. That was something she had heard about before, and even seen thanks to one of her earliest visions. It too sounded torturous, something she never wished to view again.

"For your powers," Kurama continued, "She wouldn't do anything like that. For all of Yusuke's physical strength, his mental fortitude lacks...development." He grinned.

"Hey, you saying something, fox boy?" Yusuke asked.

"Of course not, just helping Hana know the difference so that she doesn't run away screaming." Kurama replied, flashing another grin.

"I see, thanks for the warning. Oh, looks like we're here anyway." Hana said. The train had begun to slow and the announcer stated the stop that was nearest to Genkai's place.

The crew left the station and continued the rest of the way on foot. The grounds themselves were built on sacred earth. It was one of the few places in Human world that was still connected in many ways to both Demon and Spirit worlds. As soon as she set foot on it, Hana could feel the power and could understand why the woods surrounding the buildings attracted demons and apparitions.

It felt alive, somehow. Almost like the land itself had a consciousness.

Hana took a deep breath and continued forward.

* * *

"So, the older Taguro still lives. That is...pretty crappy." Genkai said as she sipped her tea.

Kurama smiled inwardly at how understated the old psychic was at times.

"I think that statement is pretty crappy, Grandma. I thought we were rid of that freak. Now here we are and we find out that not only has he escaped his prison, but he's out for revenge. I'd say that's not just crap...that's just plain shit." Yusuke replied, huffing with irritation, his tea getting cold in front of him.

"Dimwit. What did you expect? The only way to keep a Tugoro down is to kill him. Fox, I'm surprised you didn't finish the job." She directed the last part of her response to Kurama.

"My apologies, Master Genkai. If I had known there to be any way of escape, I would have certainly ended his life myself. As it was, I felt that the privilege of a quick death was too good for him."

She nodded like she respected his answer, even if she didn't agree with it.

"Well, what's done is done. Luckily we have some insight into the situation and we had some warning that the problem was coming. That leaves me to my next question." Genkai paused to take another sip before she barked her next words at Hana. "Girl! It's time to see what this demon taught you. Come with me."

Hana started at the comment and seeing no-one protest, did as the other psychic bid. "The rest of you, make yourselves useful. This assessment will only take an hour. I have chores for you, a list there on the table. I expect the list to be completed by the time we get back or there will be consequences."

Everyone else in the room shuddered at those words and they hastily did as Genkai bid.

As they set to their tasks, Kuwabara spoke up. "Hey, what do you guys think she's doing to Hana? Some kind of test?"

"She's obviously testing to see how successful Hana's become with managing her powers." Kurama answered lightly. "I am sure she is assessing how well she has taken to Hiei's instructions."

"The old woman can do what she likes, I think she will be hard pressed to find any mistakes at this stage." Hiei commented shortly as he worked to sweep the floor.

"Ahh, cocky aren't you Hiei? And what will happen if she finds out you fucked up somehow?" Yusuke teased. "I can just imagine what Grandma would do if she found out you corrupted her mind."

Hiei shot the detective a look but didn't reply.

"Yeah, or worse, what if she finds out you _like _her?" Kuwabara asked, the same teasing tone winding through his words.

The impact of Kuwabara's words was instantaneous and violent. Suddenly the redhead was dusting the shelves in the living room and quite suddenly his head was being smashed through one of the sliding doors as he flew out into the garden.

Everyone stopped to stare at the disproportionate, and uncharacteristic show of anger from the fire demon.

"Uhh...Hiei? What the hell is wrong with you?" Yusuke asked, on guard but bemused at the same time. "I mean, not that I ever mind seeing Kuwabara getting the snot kicked out of him, but even I think there's got to be a reason for it."

Kurama remained silent, watching the situation intently and ready to intervene.

"You know Yusuke, I think that Hiei's actions speak for themselves. I think he really _does_ like Hana." Boton said, staring with wide eyes. "I know we were teasing but I've never seen him get this upset over anyone else besides Yukina."

Hiei moved again, murder alight in his eyes.

Kurama moved too this time, stepping right between Boton and Hiei as the later moved in towards the reaper with aggressive intent. "Hiei! Enough! Stop this at once!" Kurama's words rang out with force, causing Hiei to step back, faltering.

"Okay, somebody had better tell me what the hell is going on here." Yusuke's voice held a hint of warning as he took a step closer towards Hiei.

"Hey! You wanna go shorty?!" Kuwabara yelled as he came back through the whole in the door. "I'm sick and tired of you being such a bastard!"

Kuwabara charged, hands ready to summon his spirit sword when Kurama again intervened, stepping between once more. "I said enough! Hiei, if you don't calm down I will be forced to take action." Kurama threatened.

Hiei growled at him, deep in his chest. It was a sound of warning, a territorial display. Quite out of character for him, but was becoming more of the norm where Hana was concerned. Kurama suspected that it was a sign of growing tension on the bond. The fox demon wrestled with himself for a moment, caught between feelings of agitation but also raising spirits that the bond could be causing such a negative reaction in the other demon. Perhaps this was a sign that things wouldn't work out after all?

"Tch. This isn't worth my time." Hiei said after a minute, and then disappeared through the same whole in the door he had made with Kuwabara's head.

"What the hell, Kurama? Something you wanna tell us?" Yusuke said.

Kurama signed. Why was it that he was left dealing with the mess that Hiei had created? "I am unable to tell you that, Yusuke. You'd have to ask Hiei for an explanation." And he refused to say another word as he began to finish the chores they had been assigned.

* * *

Hiei sprinted as fast as he could towards the forest, cursing his own inability to maintain control with each step. Finally after a few minutes he found a clearing and took out his sword, beginning to make piles of firewood.

With each slash he imagined his emotions coming out of his body-a calming technique that he had employed as a young child in an attempt to center himself. After about twenty minutes he stopped, dropping his sword and leaned his forehead heavily upon the closest tree.

Hiei's mind wandered there in that forest as he was forced to come to terms with something that he had been avoiding. He was far from an idiot and realized that, even though he hadn't meant to do so, he had made a choice about the bond. He realized in his anger that he _did _like Hana and he _did_ want to see where the bond would take them. He realized that this human, this woman, was someone he had come to admire and...to trust as she had said the day before.

He sat down at that moment, legs splayed out in front of him, head bowed in surrender, that at that moment he wouldn't try to fight the connection any more, he would see where it would take him instead. Hiei decided that he would make it clear to Hana the next time he saw her that he was interested in her, not as a teacher or a friend, but as a partner.

Satisfied, Hiei rose once more from his meditation and continued to create firewood. It wouldn't do, he thought, to continue to hold this anger inside. He would remove it and then fill it with another emotion-one he couldn't bring himself to admit just yet.

* * *

"Let's take a look and see what you've got to work with, girl." Genkai barked in Hana's direction. "Maybe that demon taught you something, and maybe he didn't. Either way I'll be the judge of that." They had exited the main room where they had all sat down to tea and had walked across the yard to another building. This building was also designed like an old Japanese-style temple and was completely empty inside. Genkai had walked inside, waited for Hana to enter and closed the door behind her before stating her order.

"Just a moment please. I'd like to ask you some questions first." Hana replied, holding up her hands, palm facing Genkai.

Genkai stopped short and eyed Hana with skepticism. "I don't usually allow my guests to order me around, girl. Especially those I've chosen to help."

"Hana. Please call me Hana, Master Genkai." Hana stated formally. "And I don't mean to order you around in your own home. I just need to understand a few things first before you root around in my head." Hana waited for a response, something telling her that the direct approach would be the best one with the older woman.

Genkai raised a grey eyebrow at her, thinking hard and seeming to appraise her. "You're different than I expected, Hana. I think I like it, but I need a bit more time before I share my opinion. Ask your questions and then we do things my way."

Hana nodded. "My first question then: what was it you expected?"

"Another idiot like the ones we left behind." She jerked a thumb in the direction of Kurama, Hiei and the others. "Koenma did mention that you had managed to worm your way out of training with me because of some other commitment that took precedence. Whatever that was, I think it's about time someone stood up to that spoiled brat. What else?"

Hana continued. "In my visions I've heard you mentioned several times, mostly in reflections about the past. I know that you are a powerful psychic and that you were Yusuke's teacher. I've Seen-and heard-some of the sessions for training that you've put him through. That being said, I'd like to know why you're helping Koenma with this. With me." She pointed to herself.

Genkai didn't move for a moment before laughing a loud and startling Hana. "That's your first instinct? To question my motives? You're more like the fox than I thought. I think I do like you after all. Tell me, what did you See that makes you ask me that?"

"I Saw that you have had a relationship with one of the Taguro brothers in the past and that the other one-the one that escaped Kurama's trap-hates you for it. That alone would suggest that you're helping the Spirit world because you are simply on the opposing side from the elder Taguro. But I suspect that answer is too simplistic."

Genkai had settled onto the floor as Hana talked, totally at ease with her surroundings. She gestured for Hana to continue.

"I think that you aren't one to go for revenge, I think you like to keep to yourself and only intervene when others you care for are in danger. Like you did when you joined Yusuke's team during the Dark Tournament. I suspect that this time is much the same. I suspect that perhaps I'm not the only one in the room with the power of foresight."

"Oh?"

"I think...Master Genkai, that you knew of Taguro's escape from Kurama's trap."

Genkai considered Hana for a moment and then gestured for her to join her on the floor. "Well, I will say this for you, Hana: you're no dimwit. I do have some abilities like you describe, though from what I understand nothing on the scale of what you possess. I am able to See some things-but only occasionally and only related to those people who are close to me. As you said, I had a similar experience before the Dark Tournament which is why I agreed to help. Afterall, I don't know how Yusuke and Kuwabara would have even been able to survive." She shook her head and continued. "Koenma asked me for help this time once he heard that a Seer would awaken, and I said yes because I had already had the vision of elder Toguro's escape. You asked about my motive and it's simple: preservation of myself and those I care about. If that doesn't satisfy you, nothing will."

Genkai waited for Hana to protest, but Hana was more than satisfied with the answers she received from the older psychic.

Genkai rose from the floor. "Now then, you're had your questions let me see what progress you've made."

Genkai entered Hana's mind and began her assessment. It seemed to take either hours or minutes, she couldn't be sure. Any instance that Hana spent delving into her powers seemed to bend her perception of time. Hana could sense Genkai's energy, very different from Hiei's, but also pleasant in it's own way, probing around and gently tugging at different memories and feelings.

Finally, Genkai withdrew her power and both women opened their eyes at the same time. Violet stared into deep brown, each with thousands of memories over a multitude of years swimming in them.

"Well now, there's something going on in your head I didn't expect and something I did. Which would you like to know about first?"

* * *

Hana exited the building after her talk with Genkai with a million thoughts buzzing around her head. Genkai had pointed her in the direction of the woods, suggesting that she take a quick walk before they both re-joined the others and Hana was only too happy to agree.

The experience alone of having an unfamiliar force poke around in the furthest corners of her mind was exhausting enough without the bombshell that Genkai had unloaded on her in that last conversation. She needed time to think, she needed time to breath. She remained unfocused as she walked further into the woods. And it was due to that state of mind that she was totally unaware of the other presence that she found there.

Suddenly Hana felt that she wasn't alone and looked up taken by surprise to see Hiei staring at her from several yards away. He had his sword in one hand and a pile of broken tree trunks lay to one side. He had obviously been training and seemed to be as caught off guard as she was.

"Sorry, I didn't realize anyone was here. I was just taking a walk."

"So I see. How did it go with Genkai?" He asked as he moved towards her.

Hana was about to answer with suddenly she felt an almost electrical force push her towards Hiei. She stumbled and he caught her, both totally frozen by the same force as soon as they touched. Hiei stared at her with an unreadable expression on his face. Then just as suddenly he moved her upright, both arms on either side of her head, pinning her back to a tree.

He was breathing heavily and Hana found the same to be true for her, but not understanding why he should be out of breath after so little exertion. He was a demon after all with tremendous stamina as he had demonstrated before, and he couldn't have been training for longer than an hour.

"Are...are you okay?" She asked him, raising a hand to put it against his clothed fore-head. Did demons even get sick? If they did, did they even have fevers? He did feel hot, she realized. "You're hot." She said with concern.

"I'm a fire demon." He said through gradually slowing breaths. "We always run hot."

"Oh, right. Makes sense." She had a vague memory of him mentioning that at some point in the past, but was having trouble remembering exactly when.

He was moving closer to her now. His sword lay forgotten on the ground beside them. He raised one calloused hand to cup her face before he moved it further back to cup the back of her head. The movement made her shiver, but she wasn't cold. She suddenly realized that Hiei's face was only inches from hers while at the same time realizing that she didn't mind. She didn't mind at all.

"Hana." He said, his voice ragged with some emotion she couldn't place.

Not knowing quite what she was doing but purely going on instinct, she moved closer to him, needing there to be less space between their bodies. And the second she moved, Hiei moved too. He crushed his lips to hers, his chest following as he pushed her further against the tree. She gasped at how it felt to have him against her. His warmth, his solidness. All of it. She fit against him like a hand fit into a glove. It was _magic_. All other thoughts, all other concerns seemed to fade into the background.

The force that had been between them seemed to strengthen in intensity but not unpleasantly. Hiei slipped his other hand into her hair, while at the same time taking her head and cradling it in his hands. He kissed her like he was a drowned man tasting water for the first time. She had never, in her life, been kissed like this before. She placed her hands on his chest, allowing him to take full control, but not before biting him softly on the bottom lip. He stilled for a moment and then growled deep in his chest. It wasn't a warning-it was an invitation to continue. The sound shot straight down into her lower belly, making her feel like it was on fire.

Suddenly his hands were moving down to clasp her butt before he lifted her with both hands and guided her legs to wrap around her waist. He held her up and pushed her once more against the tree. She was slightly taller than him now and she pulled back with a squeak at the movement and and got a good look at his face.

Hana knew then what that emotion was from earlier. It was pure, unadulterated _want_. Hiei wanted her. She could see it coming through every breath he took. It was perhaps the most intense thing she had ever witnessed-and she wanted more of it. She leaned back down and covered his mouth once more with hers. He pressed harder into her and slowly caressed one of her breasts with one hand while the other continued to hold her against him-completely off the ground.

They continued like that, totally lost in each other and the feelings of their bodies when a twig snapping made Hiei's entire body stiffen in another way. He whipped his head around to find nothing more threatening than an animal-a raccoon-that had poked its head out of a bush to stare at them. Hiei growled at the creature who promptly scurried in the other direction as fast as its legs could carry it.

Satisfied, Hiei turned back towards Hana who had also snapped out of the moment and back to reality. The two regarded each other, assessing the situation before coming to a silent agreement. Hiei gently released his hold and allowed her to stand back on her own feet. Both were aware that whatever brief magic that had occurred had dissipated.

"You asked about Genkai's assessment?"

Hiei nodded, seeming to be grateful that she hadn't brought up their kiss.

"Well, you tell me Hiei, she mentioned something about a psychic bond. How do you think it went?"

The look on his face seemed to suggest that perhaps he wished she _had_ asked about the kiss instead.

* * *

**One person did have a question about Hiei's height in the last chapter. If you turn to Google it explains that Hiei grows during the series. He starts out at 4 feet 8 inches but ends the Dark tournament at 5 feet 3 inches. In my story he's grown a bit more since it takes place after the Makai barrier saga so Hiei is 5 feet 5 inches while Hana is 5 feet even. I don't think either will be getting much taller though, just FYI! **


	5. Chapter 5

**Hello again and thank you all so much for your patience since the last time I've updated the story! This was been a crazy time for all of us I think and I had some trouble deciding which way I want the plot to go. The good news is that I have that all set-up not and I am anticipating that the story with this chapter is about half-way done. That could change a bit but I think that estimate is safe for now. **

**I hope everyone is safe and healthy during this time and for now, please enjoy this little story and allow it to take you away from it all! Thanks again to everyone who reviewed, I appreciate it so much!**

* * *

Chapter 5

Hana worked hard to block out all other thoughts in favor of total focus on her goal. This was it, what she had been working towards for her entire life-or at least the part where she had been old enough to skate. Instead of focusing on the events of the past few days including everything that had occurred with Genkai-and Hiei-she only focused on her breathing. While she had once scoffed at the idea of meditation and Mindfulness, she now was a true convert.

The locker room was oddly quiet given the number of people who were present. The sense of anticipation and thrill was thick enough to breath. There were female skaters from all over Japan, quite a turn-out given that the sport had only recently grown in popularity. Hana also knew that in the men's locker room were even more skaters though at least they wouldn't be her competition.

The Olympic qualifiers were taking place in Tokyo, where luckily Hana lived so she didn't have to deal with the travel requirements that many of the other skaters did. She had been able to go through her usual morning routine including stretches and warm-ups in the comfort of her own home before making a slightly longer commute to a larger rink where the competition would actually be held.

The down-side was, however, was that Hana knew that she would have a huge section of spectators there just to see her. The prospect made her more than a little nervous. It wasn't that she didn't appreciate the support, especially her father who had taken off work just to watch her, it was simply that there were so _many_ people who came. She knew many of her classmates were coming along with Kurama, Yusuke, Kuwabara, Botan, Keiko...and Hiei.

Just the thought of Hiei made her face flush before she quickly blocked the thought out before it could lead her to remembering the events of two days before. Again centering herself by her breath. She wouldn't focus on that right now, those thoughts were for after the competition.

She would deal with one thing at a time. She couldn't afford to get side-tracked now.

"Hey Saito, you ready?" Asked a voice behind her.

Hana turned and saw that the one who had spoken was a girl from Hokaido, her name was Izumi Tanaka, someone who Hana had been competing with for years, though they weren't any closer than friendly competitors.

"Of course, this is what we've all been working for after all. I'm not gonna lose focus now!" Hana pumped her fists enthusiastically.

"That's the spirit! I only asked because you were over there mumbling to yourself. I thought you were letting nerves get to you." Izumi said with a slight smirk.

Hana smirked back. This was all part of the friendly competition that was prevalent in her sport. These other girls were her competition, yes, but she was glad to have it. Hana was about to reply back with some sass of her own but an announcement from the loudspeaker stopped her.

"_Attention, attention everyone. Would the female skating canidates please make their way towards rink B for the single-skate Olymipic qualifying rounds." _

"Well, good luck, Saito." Izumi nodded to her and almost in unison all thirty of the female skaters made their way towards rink B.

* * *

Hiei was choosing to focus solely on the incessant chatter of the crowd, forcing himself not to relive any memories of the past few days. He was sitting with the other members of Team Yurameshi plus Keiko and Botan. Hiei was a little annoyed that he wasn't permitted to watch the show from the roof like he had done during all the previous months of Hanna's practice. But Kurama had insisted that they all sit together to watch the competition.

Hiei rolled his eyes, watching with intense focus the preparations of the rink staff and the judges. As the final judge came to their seat, the lights of the rink dimmed and an announcement came over the loudspeakers.

"_Ladies and Gentleman, please find your seats in preparation for the first part of our program this morning."_

"Oh thank god, I was getting so bored waiting for it to start." Yusuke said, throwing his arm over Keiko's shoulders. "But where's Kuwabara?"

Hiei glanced over towards the Detective's voice and then did a double-take. He could see Kuwabara slowly making his way towards their seats as he gently led a small green-haired woman along after him by the hand.

It was Hiei's sister, Yukina. Yukina was here.

Hiei immediately tensed at the unexpected visitor, quite violently regretting the fact that he wasn't outside on the roof of the building.

"Oh Yukina! So good to see you!" Keiko exclaimed as she and Botan moved forward to give the smaller woman a hug. "I didn't know you were coming, oh this will be so much more fun now!"

"Kazuma told me about it a few days ago and since I love ice skating I was more than happy to come! Plus I am really excited to meet Hana, Kazuma's told me all about her, she sounds very interesting." Yukina smiled sweetly and Hiei found a lump forming in his throat.

"Oh you'll love her!" Botan said as they all moved over several seats, rearranging themselves to accommodate one extra person. "I know we all do!"

Finally, they were all settled and Hiei found, much to his discomfort, that Yukina had taken the seat to the right of him while Kuwabara sat on her other side. Kurama was seated to Hiei's left and after meeting the fox's amused gaze he turned his eyes forward and glared heatedly down at the rink. He couldn't wait for this day to be over.

"Hello, Hiei. It's so nice to see you again." Yukina's voice caused the skin on his neck and face to become slightly heated. "I didn't know you were a fan of ice skating."

Hiei turned to look at her but before he could respond, Kurama leaned over and addressed Yukina. "Oh he's not, but he's here to see Hana. They are very close." The glee was evident in the fox's voice.

Hiei almost broke Kurama's arm at that comment but restrained himself for Yukina's sake.

"Oh how wonderful! Do you think you could introduce me to her?" Yukina asked, placing her hand gently on his forearm. "And what's she like? I'm pleased to hear that you two are so close!"

Hiei met her eyes, the only thing about them that marked them as related. Two sets of identical red eyes gazed into each other and Hiei was immediately reminded that this was as close as he had been to her since he had rescued her from captivity and from the Toguro brothers all those years ago.

"Yes. Sure. Afterwards." He said softly, suddenly very aware that his face was flushed by her proximity.

"Oh how wonderful! Thank you Hiei!" Yukina clapped her hands together and turned to face forward as the announcements began regarding the order of the competitors.

"Yes, isn't that wonderful?" Kurama's voice sing-songed in his other ear. "I wonder how Hana will react to your...sister?" He said the last word in barely a whisper so as not to attract attention.

"Say another word, fox, and it'll be your last."

Kurama just chuckled and Hiei sunk down slightly in his seat, allowing his mind for the first time that day to wander anywhere other than his present. Naturally, it wandered towards thoughts of what had occurred at Genkai's two days earlier.

* * *

**_Two days before_**

Hiei regarded the woman in front of him with unease. The spell had been broken and Hana had called his bluff. Hiei should have figured that Genkai would have recognized the bond, but he had to admit that with all of the other things that were taking up his thoughts that scenario simply hadn't occurred to him.

It was an oversight, and not one that he would make again where the older psychic was concerned.

"Genkai mentioned there was a psychic bond." He repeated to give himself time to think.

"Yes. She mentioned that there was something in my head that she did expect and something that she didn't. Which do you think I'm referring to?" Hana stated, leaning back against the tree and folding her arms in front of her.

Hiei admitted that at least she didn't _look _angry with him. But he couldn't be sure until he entered into the conversation. It could be a trap that he wouldn't see close around him until it was too late.

"It would appear that you are referring to the psychic bond as the thing she didn't expect." He conceded.

"Bingo." She said, her voice mimicking Botan's accent. "But, don't worry. Genkai filled me in."

"And just what did the old woman say?" Hiei demanded, his muscles tensing for a confrontation.

"Well, she said that it's the type of bond that demons place on one another when they wish to…" she paused here clearly searching for the word, "become partners. Is that correct?"

Hiei nodded, but didn't relax.

"She also said that the bond has some side-effects when it isn't formed properly. Often one or both of the partners will become emotionally volatile, easily angered and confrontational, that sort of thing. Does that sound familiar?" Her purple eyes were boring holes into him.

"Yes." He allowed. "Is that truly what she said?"

"Well, what she actually said involved a great deal of insult to you, so I don't think I'll repeat it. But I can't help but agree considering your decision-making skills right now. However, considering that you have confirmed her hypothesis, you have a great deal of explaining to do, Hiei. How did this happen? And why am I having to hear it from Genkai-someone I only just met, when you've been rummaging around my head for weeks with every available opportunity to tell me?" She never broke eye contact during her line of questioning. It made Hiei nervous.

The fire demon swallowed hard, thinking quickly. "It wasn't...I didn't mean-it was an accident." He bit out and knew how insufficient the explanation sounded.

Hana raised her eyebrows and something glittered in her eyes. "It was an accident? You didn't _mean_ to form a psychic bond with me right at the time when I was getting these ridiculous powers? Arguably the time where I was the most vulnerable? Which you then didn't _mean_ to not tell me about even given the amount of time we've spent together and the many, _many, _opportunities that you had to spill it?"

Hiei didn't respond so Hana continued.

"You didn't _mean _to take every available opportunity to spend time with me and strengthen this bond-also without telling me-therefore allowing it to develop in a lop-sided way which, no doubt, has been why you've been so quick to anger recently. Is that correct?"

Again Hiei was silent, thoughts racing through his head but for some reason not able to spill out of his mouth.

"I asked if I was correct, Hiei." Hana sounded tired and exasperated.

"Yes." He conceded, wanting more than anything to conclude this conversation. "That's all correct.".

"Well," she allowed after pausing for a few seconds, "that's pretty dumb. And quite out of character for you, I never thought you were a stupid person." She was back to leaning against the tree. "You should have told me. It should have come from you."

Hiei waited for something more, but when it did't come, he backed up a bit and regarded her. He had been fully expecting that she would yell or scream, or even strike him like Yusuke's girlfriend did on most occasions. But she was only standing there and looking at him with disappointment on her face.

And for some reason, Hiei wished that she did strike him in that moment because the look that she was giving him was so much worse than any blow could be. "You aren't...angry with me?" He hated the way he sounded but couldn't stop himself from asking the question.

Hana raised both eyebrows "Oh, I'm pretty frustrated, and a bit disappointed that you didn't tell me and I had to find out from another source. I hate being in the dark with things. Maybe that's why I was gifted with these powers, who knows? But if what you say is true-that you didn't mean to do it-I can understand how it would be difficult to tell me once you realized the truth. That doesn't excuse the lying by omission and I think I need to reflect what this means for my level of trust with you, especially considering your tongue was just half-way down my throat." She signed. "I need you to answer some things for my before we continue."

"You can ask me anything."

Hana regarded him as though he had said something funny. "I can, can I? Of course I can, now that I know what's going on. How ironic. But fine, here's my question: what exactly do you want from me in this situation?"

Hiei was absolutely dumb-founded. "I thought...I thought that given what just happened it would have been obvious."

Hana looked at him like he might be lying...or maybe he was just stupid. "No. Not really, Hiei."

The demon sighed and moved closer to the Seer. He cupped her face and tilted it up towards his. "You. I want you, Hana." He leaned down again and tried to press his mouth to hers once again.

"No, no. Talk first Hiei." She pushed him away with both hands on his chest. "Be more specific."

Hiei stared blankly at her.

Hana signed and smacked herself on the face with her hand in pure exasperation. "What do you mean you want me? Do you want to date me? Do you want to have sex with me? Do you, I don't know, 'want to be with me forever'?" She said the last phrase with air quotations and Hiei could practically feel the sarcasm roll off of her in waves.

Hiei looked at her and shrugged. "Yes." He said.

"Yes, what?"

"Yes to all of it. I want to 'date' you, I definitely want to have sex with you, and the whole idea of the bond is to find a partner to be with forever and the fact that I placed it on you without knowing tells me a tremendous amount of information about our compatibility. Not to mention your power and strength-not physically in that sense-but your psychic power and potential is vast. You make a very attractive partner, even for a human." Hiei crossed his arms in front of her and leveled her with a look that dared her to challenge him. "So, yes."

Hana stared at him, and he would have given anything in that moment to tap into her mind to see the thoughts as they formed in her head. But he didn't. He had invaded her space too much as of late for him to do it again and risk all that he had just confessed-and gambled.

"Oh."

Hiei waited. "Oh...what?"

"I don't know, just 'oh' I suppose for now. I need some time to think about all of this."

Hiei tensed again. "...Are you rejecting...me?...The bond?" Again he hated the way his voice sounded but he had to ask the question as much as he suddenly found that he didn't want to know the answer.

Hana looked at him, an un-named emotion passing behind her eyes. "No, Hiei. I'm not rejecting you." She put out another hand to stop him as he had tried to move close to her once more. "But I'm also not saying yes to...all the things you said yes to. I need some time to think about this as I said. I need to figure out what this all means for me, especially since things have been so hard recently with my training-both physical and mental-and now this whole thing with that guy Toguro. So, I guess I'm saying that as of right now I can't give you an answer. Can you live with that?"

She was looking at him again and he found that as long as she didn't say no, he could indeed live with that.

* * *

Since then it seemed that Hiei and Hana had come to an understanding. Hiei would continue on as he had been doing, knowing that he had made his intentions clear while he also gave Hana some space to consider her situation. But even though she hadn't outright rejected him, Hiei still found himself still wondering if that may eventually be the case.

"_Please welcome our first Olympic hopeful for the women's single skate: Izumi Tanaka from Hokaido!" _

Hiei's attention was jolted back into the present as he watched a human woman step out onto the ice and glide towards the center of the rink.

"Hey, when's Hana supposed to be up?" Yusuke's voice came from the other side of Kurama.

"I believe she is the twentieth competitor." Kurama answered as he thumbed through the program to check.

"Oh man so we have to sit through all these other people? I'm gonna take a nap. Wake me up when she's on." Yusuke grumbled.

"Yusuke! Don't be so rude, all of these people have worked their whole lives for this chance! The least you can do is watch." Keiko's voice admonished him.

Hiei signed and silently agreed with the detective. He was all for watching Hana skate (he had found that he secretly enjoyed it quite a bit) but having to sit through so many others was something he would rather skip. But he did watch and found that with each successive skater he was more and more confident that Hana would perform at a much higher level. The thought made him feel proud...for some reason he wouldn't name.

Finally after about two hours and a short break for an intermission, it was Hana's turn.

Hiei sat up as the announcer called her to the ice, a sudden thrill ran down his spine simply by seeing her.

"_Ladies and gentleman, please welcome our next skater: Hana Saito from right here in Tokyo!"_

The lights dimmed and a hush went through the crowd. A sense of true anticipation filled the audience.

"She's the favorite, you know." Kurama murmured. "She is expected to score the highest in this competition, there is no doubt that she will make it onto the team. I heard that she is the one that most people came to watch."

Hiei nodded absently but kept his eyes trained on the graceful figure below. She had stopped in the middle of the ice just as all the skaters before her had. She struck her starting pose, one leg out to the side while her back was bent at a slight angle and her arms were raised overhead.

Everything was silent for a beat, then two before Hana's music started through the speaker system. She had told him in an earlier conversation that she had chosen the piece because of its rich feel and depth of emotion. He had to admit that at the time he didn't really understand exactly what she had been getting at; but seeing her now, he thought that he _did _understand.

Hana began to move through her routine, each movement precise and on point. Hiei had watched her practice before so many times he had lost track but this time-this time-there was something different, something extra that hadn't existed before.

"Oh she is wonderful!" Yukina's soft voice caused Hiei to break his eye-contact with Hana's sweeping figure and glance over at the small woman. Yukina's eyes were huge and she had her hands pressed together in front of her in obvious delight.

Hiei had to smile at the sight and then continued watching for the remainder of the routine. Every jump and sweep of her arms continued with perfection, she seemed to be floating on the ice, her movements deceptive in how easy they looked during her performance, though Hiei knew that was far from the case. His excellent vision and senses could tell how much her body was exerting in its effort to perfect the performance.

Then all too soon Hana was done, striking her final pose in perfect sync with the end of the music. For a second there was once again total silence in the room, hundreds of people so taken in by the performance that it was a shock to find it completed. Then, suddenly, everyone was on their feet cheering and thundering their applause towards the lone figure present on the ice.

Hiei too found that he couldn't stay seated and was clapping along with the rest of them. He knew in that moment, more than in any other, that if Hana did end up rejecting him he didn't think he would be able to stand it.

* * *

Hana was shaking with adrenaline as she walked in from the kiss-and-cry back towards the locker rooms. She couldn't believe it, she couldn't believe how high her scores were. Coach Mizuki had been sitting next to her with the smuggest expression she had ever seen gracing his face. And it was over, finally over. She was going. She was going to the Olympics and she would be able to realize the dream she had been working towards her entire life.

She was giddy, her face almost splitting into two as she began to dress after her quick shower-hair still slightly damp-before she would go meet the press for a final interview. So high was her mood that it came as quite a shock when the vision overwhelmed her.

_Suddenly Hana wasn't in the locker room, she wasn't even in the rink. She was in a cold, poorly-lit concrete room. But she wasn't alone. There, seated in the center of the space, was a young man with dark hair tied back in a low tail at the nape of his neck. He was sitting quietly, his fingers interlaced together and clasped calmly upon his knee, the top foot swinging slightly. _

_He looked serene, his eyes were closed as his head leaned back into the chair. Hana was about to further examine the room when the eyes opened and she found that he was looking directly at her. _

"_Finally, you've come." The man said as his expression lit up like a decked-out Christmas tree. _

_Hana looked behind her to see if he was talking to someone whom she hadn't noticed yet, but found no-one there. _

"_I'm talking to you, Hana-chan." The man chuckled, amusement and indulgence in his tone._

_Hana froze and turned back to stare at the man. He was indeed looking at her, his black eyes locked onto hers with an intensity that made her skin crawl. Not to mention the cutsey nickname. _

"_How...how is this happening? How are you talking to me? Who are you?" She questioned, cautiously backing up to get as much space in between them as possible. Something about the man's face looked unnatural, like it was a mask covering something grotesque. _

"_My dear Hana, you mean you haven't Seen? You haven't guessed?" The man seemed genuinely shocked that she didn't know him and then his expression transformed into one of disappointment. "And here I thought that those damned rulers of Spirit World were actually teaching you something useful. That's what I get though for assuming that anyone else could compare to what I will do for you." The man signed theatrically and Hana felt herself prickle with annoyance. But she waited until the man decided to answer her questions. "My name, dear, dear, sweet, Hana-chan is Daisuke. Daisuke Higashi."_

_Daisuke lowered his head slightly in a traditional bow though he somehow managed to make it seem condescending even though it was a brief action. _

"_You haven't answered the other question. If this is a vision, how are we conversing?" Hana interjected, still not moving any closer to the man. _

"_Oh, well. That's an easy one. You didn't think you were the only Seer in Japan, did you?" He smiled at her in a way that felt oily. "Two Seers can reach out towards each other to connect even through space and time. As is one of the basic aspects of our power. Didn't Koenma tell you?" He raised an eyebrow at her before he added, "I'm rather put-out you know, to think I've been thinking of you all this time and you didn't even notice me. You sure know how to play hard to get, don't you?" He pouted at her. _

_Haha didn't answer his inane question but parried it with some of her own. "You're a Seer? What exactly do you want with me? Why would you try to talk to me when we've never met?" _

"_So many questions! Yes, I am a Seer and as for the last two questions-the answer is the same. I must take this moment to confess: I'm in love with you." He said the last part with such a lack of build-up that for a second Hana thought she had misheard him._

"_Sorry. What?" _

_For a moment, Daisuke's mask slipped and Hana saw a look of annoyance walk across his face. But just as quickly the look disappeared and the sickeningly sweet expression was back. "I said, dear Hana, that I'm in love with you. I've wanted to meet you for quite awhile, I-"_

_During their conversation, Daisuke had risen from his chair and he had walked closer, and closer to her despite her continued steps backwards until her back was flat against the cool wall of concrete. But suddenly when he was only steps away Daisuke had stopped and given her a very odd look and then narrowed his eyes in distaste. _

"_Oh. This won't do. This won't do at all." Daisuke raised an arm and trailed his fingers down her cheek and pressed them against her windpipe. "Yes, we will need to get rid of _this _straight away. I can't have you connected to anyone else. You and I-we're to be together after all. I've _seen _it." _

_The pressure against her throat increased and a pain so intense it felt like someone had driven an ice pick into her eye filled Hana's mind, blotting out the scene until it was filled with an intense white light. She couldn't help but scream. _

_Right before the vision ended Hana was conscious only long enough to hear Daisuke utter "...I'll have to have Toguro take care of that. But let this be a lesson to you that the only one who can have you, is me." _

_Then everything went black. _

* * *

The only reason Hiei knew that Hana was in trouble was the brief flash of explosive pain that momentarily overwhelmed their link and then the abrupt radio-silence that followed. He immediately disappeared right in the middle of the crowded lobby as he and the rest of the team were waiting for Hana to join them.

Hiei moved with lightning-speed, weaving between humans who moved so slow they might have been frozen. He streaked towards the locker rooms and dashed between the rows of metal boxes hoping that Hana hadn't been taken out of the building without him realizing it, when he finally found her.

Hana was unconscious on the floor, totally clothed except for one shoe that lay beside her almost as if she had passed out in the act of placing it on her foot. Hiei went to her and did a quick check, finding nothing immediately wrong with her. No obvious injuries or trauma were visible upon her person.

Had she had a vision? If so, Hiei thought that they had moved beyond the pain that they had caused initially, and become more controllable. He continued his inspection until a glimpse of liquid red stopped him. Hana was bleeding now, from her nose and from both of her ears. Drips of ruby red blood were coming out and making tracks down her face and neck.

Alarmed, Hiei moved towards Hana's face, feeling for a pulse on her neck-a trick he had learned from Kurama since demon's didn't have heartbeats-but found it was quite steady. Confused, he had just decided that a psychic dive may be necessary to determine what was going on, when Hana's eyes fluttered open. She stared at him, her violet eyes unfocused.

"Hana, can you hear me?" He reached out to touch her face gently with his hand.

"Hiei?" She whispered. "Hiei?" She asked again with more feeling in her tone.

"Yes, it's me. What happened? Are you injured?" He took his sleeve and was wiping the blood carefully away from her mouth and nose.

"I-I'm not the only Seer." She said faintly and Hiei immediately tensed and looked at her.

"What do you mean?"

"Hiei. I'm not the only one. Did you know?" She was struggling to sit up now and he reached forward to grasp her shoulders firmly to assist.

"No. Koenma informed us that you were the first for centuries."

Hana deflated a bit at that. "Oh. I sort of hoped it was something else you were keeping from me."

Hiei tensed. "I'm not keeping anything from you. I told you everything at Genkai's." Annoyance at her sparked in his chest though it was quickly covered up by concern when her nose started bleeding again.

"Sorry, sorry. I was trying to make a joke. Didn't mean to make you mad."

"I'm not mad." He said automatically as he began again to wipe the blood away from her face with his sleeve. "Tip your head forward so you don't choke."

"Choke on-? Oh. Blood." Bewilderment colored her tone and suddenly Hiei found that tears were mixing in with the blood creating quite a lot of mess. "What is happening? What in the world was that?" She whispered.

"Start from the beginning. What happened?" Hiei tried for a soothing tone with no idea of success, but Hana began to tell him. He listened to her describe the man named Daisuke who claimed to also be a Seer and had to force himself not to react when she told him that he claimed to love her.

"And then he mentioned something about a connection-I think he meant my bond with you-and then said something about Toguro 'taking care' of something. Then my head felt like someone had struck it open with an ax and the next thing I remember is waking up and seeing you. Hiei, I think Daisuke is the one aiding that smaller Toguro brother. I think he's the one who helped him escape from Kurama's trap. Who else could it be? And why did he choose to reveal himself to me now?"

She looked at him with such big eyes that if Hiei had a heartbeat he could swear it would have stopped. Suddenly the strangest feeling of territorialness came over him "I'm not sure, but I think it's best that we leave this place and get you somewhere safe. We can talk about it more then, but you need some rest right now." He reached down and picked up her smaller form, gathering the rest of her things and began to move once more with frightening speed.

"Wait, what about the press? What about everyone else?" Hana's voice was serious though it betrayed a sense of relief that he had taken initiative to get her out of there.

"Fuck the press-and everyone else."

"Oh. Well, if you say so." Relief really did color her tone that time.

And the two of them remained silent for the rest of the time that Hiei ran.

* * *

Kurama received Hiei's psychic call several moments after the fire demon disappeared from the rink. Kurama had noticed the movement immediately, though had neglected to mention it to the others until he decided it was necessary.

"_Something has happened, I'm taking Hana back home for now-you should follow." _

"We need to get out of here." Kurama said aloud for everyone to hear.

"What? Why?" Yusuke asked, his eyes immediately turning hard and his body tensed for a fight.

"Hiei has let me know that something happened to Hana. I don't know what, but we need to figure out what is going on." Kurama replied as he began to move towards the main doors to the rink.

The rest of the team followed, all of them questioning Kurama with increased intensity for more detail. Suddenly the hairs on the back of Kurama's neck stood on end and he had to overcome the urge to sprint towards those doors and leave the others behind.

"I can't explain it-but we need to all shut up and listen to Kurama." Kuwabara's voice cut over top of the others who silenced immediately. "I think something bad is going to happen, we need to move right now!"

"I feel the same way." Yukina's voice piped up and Kurama glanced back to see a wide-eyed expression on the ice apparition's face.

Kurama was about to reply to her when that eerie feeling graduated from a premonition to an out-right alarm blaring in his ear while at the same time several other things happened at once.

An explosion rocked the ground around them while bursts of smoke and debris filled the air. The screams of hundreds of humans began at once while several other explosions followed. Kurama braced himself to help protect the non-fighters of the group while Yusuke and Kuwabara assisted him. Together the three formed a sheltering ring around Yukina, Botan and Keiko. Which was a smart choice for at that moment, the ceiling of the stadium collapsed and Kurama knew no more.

* * *

**And that's the end for now! I am hoping to get back to my usual schedule of updating once a week or so, here's hoping! Please review and let me know what you think! Additionally, one thing that I don't like about anime is when female characters hit male characters without provocation or outside of self-defense. I know that's part of the comedic effect, but I think it's in bad taste which is why Hiei comments on Hana not doing that (the only exception is when a male character is touching a female without her consent-which Yusuke does frequently). Just my opinion! Thanks again for reading! **


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